Dahlia
by Daisy-Chan
Summary: [AU].She's a Princess and he's a Prince.Standing between them is a Knight clad in black outfit who swore his eternal loyalty to the Prince.The Knight's heart,however,belonged to the Princess; someone he perfectly knows not to touch and not to love.
1. One

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing. This is a fanfic written for entertainment only.

**A/N:** Hello again in another HM story. XD I'm finally done with 'Paper Cranes' (though I haven't post up the last chapter. Still debating whether I should proceed with that ending or make another… XD), here's another of my short series story. English is not my first language. Pardon the bad grammar and stuff. (n.n);

_Italic words _- Thoughts

* * *

**DAHLIA**

- 1 -

* * *

Chelsea stared absentmindedly at the countless droplets of water running down the window of her room. She reached out a hand, tracking the falling water with a finger, her other hand supported her chin as she let out a deep sigh. She had always like rainy days – it provided her a shield from all the noise she had to dealt with that surrounded her everyday life; she had always preferred listening to the drum of the pouring water rather than fake praises and compliments thrown to her – those empty, useless, sugar-coated words that served only as to preserved said people's good image in front of her eyes. Who knows what kind of things they spoke behind her?

Sure, she was one of the luckiest person on earth-as people tend to say when they were asked to describe her-but the brunette young woman would've thought the opposite – she was the unluckiest girl ever. As the only daughter of the King and Queen of Sunny Kingdom, Chelsea Eve Springfield, the Princess of said kingdom was blessed with a fortunate life – a luxurious life that she was sure many would've kill to live with. As if that's not enough to say that she's got Lady Luck by her side, said brunette princess was blessed with an attractive feature; she was a fine-looking lady with a kind personality to boot. Many were said to be head over heels over her; though she was never interested in any of those many people.

It was that kind personality that Chelsea sometimes cursed and blamed herself for her current situation. She didn't hate that she never opposed to the things her beloved parents told her to do but she wished that she somehow got the guts-even a little-to stand up for herself, to make a decision for herself – such as in this matter that occupied her mind since two weeks ago.

Why can't she choose, on her own, the man that will bear the title 'husband' to her? Why can't she live her life as a full-fledged adult with someone that she knows, that she love?

Why, if her parents care and love her, arranged this with the King and Queen of Sunshine Kingdom?

Why was she, Chelsea Eve Springfield, engaged to someone that she never met before? Why was her betrothed turned out to be an unknown young man from a neighboring country – someone that she knew absolutely nothing about him?

_Harvest Goddess must have hated me. I must have been very bad during my previous life to deserve something like this._ Chelsea closed her eyes in disappointment – she felt defeated, she felt weak and she felt disgusted at herself for breaking a promise she had made to her childhood friend.

"Princess?" a voice snapped her out of her reverie. The sound of the door creaked open followed after. "Are you ready?" footsteps approached her as Chelsea turned around to see said person who owned the voice and who'd entered her room.

"Mark," she called out the blonde's name as she rose from her seat, looking once again at the scenery outside her window before walking closer to the other person. "I thought I have told you not to be so formal with me when we are alone?"

Mark gave out a small smile. "Ah, yes. I am sorry about that, Chelsea. It is a habit of mine," he chuckled as he explained. "Are these your belongings?" he asked, pointing to a couple of suitcases lying on the peach-coloured bed sheet of her bed.

"Mhmm," the brunette nodded. "I will have my own room there, right? I think those will be enough to cover up some of my early days there," she smiled sadly as she turned and stared at the brown suitcases.

"Chelsea," there's sadness in the blonde's voice. "Are you okay?" he asked, taking a step closer to her and tucked away a single strand of her brown hair behind her ear.

Chelsea closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before opening her eyes again. She locked her aquamarine orbs with the young man's emeralds. "I am okay," she answered, trying to fight back the tears that threatening to fall. "I am…fine," she added, moving closer to the blonde and closed the small gap between them when she leaned into him, placing both hands on his chest. "I…I…"

Mark circled his arms around her, pulling her closer to him as he embraced her. "If you want to cry, go ahead. I am here," he said as he stroked her hair and sometimes paused to pat her head.

The young woman in his embrace shook her head as she tightened her grip on his white shirt. "No. I have made up my mind to go through this," she looked up at him as soon as she finished her words. "If there is any regret about this decision of mine, it is only that I will not be able to keep the promise we made to each other when we were kids."

_I do not want you to be worried about me so I will be sure to marry someone that I love so that he will take good care of me! That will make you happy, right?_ "It cannot be helped, can it?" the blonde smiled bitterly, still stroking her hair. "You cannot go against the words of the King and Queen," he pulled her away and stared at her as she stared at him. "I am sure you will be happy with the Prince, Chelsea."

"Will I, Mark? I know nothing about him yet I am engaged to him and now I am going to live at his castle even though there is still a season away from our marriage."

"Why not give yourself a chance this one season to learn more about him and know him better?"

"…I shall try."

Mark patted her head once more before moving towards her bed, bending over to reach out the princess's suitcases. "You better do. Heck, I will make sure you do," he replied as his hands settled down on the handler of the suitcases – one on his right and two more in his left hand. "Come, Princess. The King and Queen were waiting for you in the Hall. They will be seeing you off," he continued and made his way towards the door, motioning the brunette to follow him.

Chelsea nodded and tagged behind him. She kept her gaze at the older blonde as he opened the door with his right hand. She was surprised to see someone was outside of her room – he was clad in black outfit, a silver sword attached to his waist and was standing still on the entrance of the door, as if guarding the room from unwanted visitors. He turned his back so that the princess can get a clear look of his face and she froze as her eyes made contact with the silver-haired stranger's violet ones.

* * *

**A/N: **First chapter done. I used Sunny and Sunshine as the kingdoms' name because I don't know what else to pick. Lol. XD


	2. Two

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing. This is a fanfic written for entertainment only.

**A/N:** I'm done with 'Paper Cranes' so 'Dahlia' will be my focus aside of 'It Was You' now. XD English is not my first language. Pardon the bad grammar and stuff... n.n;

_Italic words _– Thoughts

* * *

**DAHLIA**

- 2 -

* * *

His eyes, she concluded, were beautiful. Violet orbs were not something uncommon though; Chelsea knew a few people with such eyes colour but none of them were the same as Vaughn's – his were the shade of different violet; one can see the spark of determination dancing in them. A determination for what, the brunette princess knows nothing about it herself. The gazes they provided were strong and sharp enough to pierce through another's set of orbs; Chelsea was sure that that kind of look was enough to intimidate others, to make them think that the knight is not someone they should mess around with.

The brunette princess, however, was bothered about the small flicker of foreign light inside of the violet orbs she gazed on earlier. She thought it was a rather odd addition to someone as tough as him-Mark had told her some info about the Sunshine Kingdom's knight before she entered the carriage and said knight went to get his horse-and wondered why such sentiment was painted inside his eyes. There, sitting hidden amidst the burning fire of willpower-to protect, to kill whoever dared to mess with him-was a tint of sadness – Vaughn was not exactly a hundred percent living up to the brusque mask he had on him. Chelsea bet that no one ever noticed said glimmer in his eyes, no one ever realized that the strongest knight of Sunshine Kingdom was capable of showing other emotion other than just being a cold bastard and scare people away.

Chelsea let out a deep breath as she closed the book in her hand and lifted up the curtain to take a peek of the outside scene. She saw the knight next to her, riding on his black stallion and her inside the carriage coached by her butler Mark. They were moving at a rather slow pace seeing that the roads were all wet and muddy because of the rain – it was a good thing it stopped before they leave the castle. The black knight had his focus on the road ahead of them; he never noticed that the brunette princess was scrutinizing him.

The princess of Sunny Kingdom kept her stare at the black knight for a couple more minutes before closing the curtain and leaned back onto the soft seat inside of the carriage. She placed a hand over her chest as she closed her eyes, letting out yet another deep breath. Vaughn had hardly said anything except his formal greetings and introduction of himself when she first met him in front of her room in the castle yet she can't ignore the urge of wanting to know him more – it was weird, she knew, but she wanted so bad to see the black knight did that one thing she currently had in her mind now; smiling.

xxxxxx

"I will go get more firewood," Mark declared as rose from his seat, picking up a small lantern beside him in the process. "Please watch over the Princess, Vaughn," he told the knight who was sitting across him.

"Aa," Vaughn simply replied and he watched as the blonde's figure disappeared from his view. He turned back to the fire in front of him and tossed a stick into it; fire engulfed said stick within seconds it was thrown. He lifted his head to the only female in the convoy – she had her eyes locked on the dancing flame in front of her.

They were camping outside after Vaughn decided that it was already too late to continue their journey to Sunshine Kingdom. Mark was against the idea at first but decided to go along when Chelsea told the two men she didn't mind spending a night in the woods. The brunette princess laughed when Mark-during the argument regarding to Vaughn's proposal before agreeing to said plan-expressed his worried about the wild animals living in the woods. The black knight rolled his eyes at his words and even though he hated doing it, assured the blonde that they are safe – the fire will keep the animals away and the animals living in the woods were actually not as vicious as the rumours he had heard.

Vaughn stared the Sunny Kingdom's brunette princess. She had struck him as an odd one – he had always thought that Princesses were toffee-nosed, spoiled young women dressed in fancy, lacy and expensive dresses that knows nothing but to abuse their title as one of the royal members to get everything they wanted. He had to change his opinion towards Princesses now though – the one sitting across him was nothing like what he imagined her to be. Chelsea never whined about the bumps on the road they came across along their journey. She never complained about the weather-it had started to get very hot after they entered the woods-and the long hours she had to sit inside the carriage. She didn't seemed to mind the fact that there were now some dirt plastered on her long, silky skirt courtesy to sitting down on the ground with him-and Mark before he leaved-and she seemed to be very interested at the burning red flame between them.

"Because it is beautiful," she spoke out of a sudden.

The silver-haired man cocked an eyebrow. "Pardon?"

Chelsea chuckled. "You were pondering over the reasons of why I am interested in the fire," she told him.

"I never knew that the princess of Sunny Kingdom was capable of reading other people's thoughts."

"I have no such ability," the brunette princess shook her head as she let out an amused laugh. "Your eyes on me gave your thoughts away, Sir."

Hearing the title, Vaughn's eyebrows knitted together. "Drop the title, Your Highness," he waved a hand at her. "I am more comfortable with people calling me by my name rather than that 'Sir' stuff," his other free hand reached out for another stick.

"Then call me Chelsea."

Vaughn's hand halted from throwing the stick into the fire and he stared at her. Violets danced with aquamarines and silence ruled the brief moment before Vaughn proceeded on throwing the stick into the fire. "That is something I simply cannot do," he replied her.

"May I ask for the reason?" Chelsea asked, switching her gaze back to the fire between her and the knight.

The silver-haired man sighed. "Was it not obvious enough, Your Highness? I am but a mere servant of Sunshine Kingdom and you, one of the royalties of Sunny Kingdom who will soon be the wife of the Crown Prince of Sunshine – it was clear that someone such as me who sits below the soon-to-be-Sunshine Kingdom's-Queen must not do something absurd like that; calling you by your first name. Besides which, we only met this morning."

Chelsea brushed a strand of hair away from her eyes. "Is that a rule in Sunshine Kingdom?"

"It is called 'common sense', Your Highness," Vaughn sighed again.

"I do not wish to be bound by said rule."

Vaughn massaged the bridge of his nose for some seconds before he went back to stare at the brunette princess. "Like I said, it was-"

"You can actually make that kind of expression," Chelsea cuts in as she stared at him with a wide smile on her face. "I am right – that cold, poker face of yours is not the only expression you have. Or am I wrong, Vaughn?" she was now smirking at him.

Vaughn was speechless – there's nothing in his mind that he can use as a comeback. Had she been examining him? Had she been staring at whatever things he did since their meeting at Sunny Kingdom's castle? Had her eyes been watching the expressions-he was very careful on that part though-plastered on his face along their journey? _And what reasons would it be for her to do so?_ "I am a human, Your Highness. It is natural for me to have a different set of expression."

"Ah, that was not what Mark told me earlier," placing a finger over her lips, the brunette princess tilted her head. "He told me that you were famous for two things; your skills in swordsmanship and that cold poker face of yours."

_Damn butler._ "It is not smart to trust every rumour that caught your ears, Your Highness," the black knight said and caught the slight shudder the brunette princess in front of him gave away. He rose from his seat and approached her, taking off his cape along the way. "But I must say; those rumours of yours were quite interesting. I never knew people have such opinion on me," he added as he bent down and covered her body with his cape. "Seriously though, do I only have that kind of expression plastered on my face? A cold poker face, as you said?" he asked as he stood straight, crossing his arms over his chest and looked down at the brunette.

Chelsea's face reddened a little at the black knight's gesture. She made herself comfortable in the embrace of Vaughn's black cape before looking up at the knight. "I stand corrected," she smiled as their gazes locked with each others. "I will never let myself to be swayed by pointless rumours again." _That is, if you keep on smiling that smile of yours at me tomorrow…and for the days to come._

* * *

**A/N:** The new HM game's Witch Princess…she looks a lot like Witchkin. XD


	3. Three

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing. This is a fanfic written for entertainment only.

**A/N:** As always, thank you for the feedback! X"D English is not my first language. Pardon the bad grammar and stuff... n.n;

_Italic words _– Thoughts

* * *

**DAHLIA**

- 3 -

* * *

In each metre they're closer to the Sunshine Kingdom's castle, Chelsea's heart thumped faster than before. She had lost count of how many times she fidgeted in her seat, changing position left and right in the moving carriage and sometimes bit on her right thumb – a habit that she did only when she's nervous and she was feeling so right now.

She was restless; _it is not unusual to feel so when you are going to meet your future husband – one that you have never met before, right?_ She was sad; _it is a pity that there is nothing I can do to change this fate of mine._ She was scared; _sharing the rest of my life with someone I barely know makes me feel insecure – who knows what the other party is thinking about me and our life together?_

Chelsea heaved a sigh as she massaged the bridge of her nose. The urge to oppose the wedding arrangement was as much as her desire to just jump off the moving carriage and run away from Sunshine Kingdom, from her parents, from everyone – to where, she didn't know herself but she was happy to just be away from all these madness right now. However, she knows that none of her thoughts can actually be executed; she had both wrist pinned to the wall of submission and was left no room to argue, to state her objections and own thoughts of said engagement.

The brunette princess pulled both her legs up the seat and hugged her knees, staring blankly at the empty seat across of her inside the carriage. Supposed that she was indeed given a choice whether to accept or reject the proposal; is she able to brace herself and choose the latter? Isn't such decision going to break her parents' heart? Will it not make Sunny Kingdom received a scornful look from Sunshine Kingdom, from other kingdoms as well? Her private tutor once told her that rumours sometimes can breed hate and that hate can actually turn into a war – she didn't have to be told what war would bring to her people in her rather small Sunny Kingdom.

_Excuses. They were just pathetic excuses made so that you feel better about this choice of yours, Chelsea. You're nothing more than a coward._

xxxxxx

Vaughn pulled the reign of his black stallion to a halt as they arrived at their destination. He threw a glance at the entrance of the enormous castle and saw a group of people standing there, probably waiting for the convoy from Sunny Kingdom to arrive. He expected no less the presence of the crown prince himself – he was standing in the middle of two of Vaughn's companions-his fellow Knights of Sunshine-with both hands on his back, smiling at the arrival of the convoy of three he's been waiting since Vaughn-knows-when.

The black knight dismounted his black stallion and gave his steed to a young attendant who was standing next to him, ready to take charge of the black four-legged mammal. He patted the horse's head for a couple of times before motioning the attendant to take him to the stable. The young boy nodded at the order and excused himself as Vaughn made his way to the approaching Sunshine Kingdom's Prince.

"Your Highness," the black knight bowed his head slightly to the royalty in front of him. "I apologize for arriving late than the scheduled time. We have some difficulties during our journey; the weather in Sunny Kingdom had made the roads a little hard to navigate with all the mud and slippery dirt all over them."

The Prince smiled and raised a hand. "There is nothing to apologize for, Vaughn," he said as he waved said hand, dismissing the apology given to him. "I am fully aware that we are experiencing quite a lot of rainy days lately. I am not surprised that Sunny Kingdom, one of our closest neighbouring countries was experiencing the same. Nonetheless, you have all arrived safe and sound. As people always say, it is better to be safe than to be sorry, no?" he chuckled a little.

Vaughn raised his head. "Yes," he simply replied. He turned his back to the Prince as he motioned the carriage not far from where they were standing. "The Princess of Sunny Kingdom," he started. "She is here."

"Very well," the Prince nodded as he followed the black knight's gaze. "I shall go meet her at once. A job well done, Vaughn; as always. You have my gratitude," he smiled at him.

"It is my duty as your servant to do as you wish, My Lord. I am merely doing my job."

Hearing this, the Prince let out a small laugh. "You were always so strict and serious about your work, Vaughn," he patted the silver-haired man's shoulder. "Although that is not a bad thing, you have to let loose once in a while," he added before walking away from the black knight.

Vaughn watched as the Prince made his way to the carriage and Mark as he jumped down from the seat and approached the door of the carriage. He watched as the blonde butler reached out his hand, only to be taken by another hand from inside of the carriage and a full figure of the owner of said hand emerged outside afterwards. The black knight's gaze locked with the brunette princess for a split second as the princess glanced around her, taking the whole view of the new surrounding they've came to. Vaughn was the first to tear his gaze away as not wanting to give any hints to anyone else around them that he was-somewhat-familiar with the Princess of Sunny Kingdom.

xxxxxx

Chelsea watched as the black knight withdrew himself from the scene – her eyes followed his movement as his figure drafted away slowly from her view, ignoring for a while the presence of another man-other than his butler Mark-near her.

"My Lady?" Mark's voice startled her and she quickly turned her face to him, trying not to show the blush she was sure starting to appear on both her cheeks. "Are you unwell, Princess? Were you hurt anywhere?" her butler expressed his concern, staring worriedly at his Lady.

Chelsea shook her head and gave out a smile. "I am fine, Mark. There is nothing to be worried about," she told him and turned to face the other man near her.

As she laid her eyes on his face, she was momentarily taken aback – the man standing in front of her was the Prince-she made this decision based on the outfit he wore and the emblem embedded on a small button near his neck-himself; he was smiling at her. _He somehow looked…familiar._

"Aa-," Chelsea was loss at words. She never expected to see her fiancé this fast – she was sure that she will meet him after she at least entered the castle.

Mark was giving his Lady a bewildered look, confused as she had never acted this way before – it's not like her to be distracted over things-whatever it is that she's musing over-that easily. "Princess Chelsea? Are you sure you are well, Your Highness?"

"My apology for interrupting," the Prince spoke as he reached out a hand to Chelsea and Chelsea, finally snapping out of her thoughts reached out hers as well, placing it on top of the Prince's. "Perhaps the Princess is tired from the long journey? I have ordered the servants to prepare a room for you, My Lady," the Prince continued as he bent down slightly to kiss the brunette princess's hand.

"I-I very much appreciate it, Your Highness," Chelsea forced-and tried not to make it look so-another smile as the Prince released her hand and stood straight again, staring fondly at her. "I-Ah, I apologize for not introducing myself earlier," she grabbed the skirt of her yellow-coloured dress with both hands and bowed to the Sunshine Kingdom's Prince. "I am Chelsea Eve Springfield, the Princess of Sunny Kingdom."

Placing his hand over his mouth, the Prince laughed a little. "I know. I am William Terry Louis Andrew Carrick Jonathan Dredge Hams Reading Roger Southwark Alnwick Plymouth Junior Regison III. Please, just call me Will. It is a pleasure to finally be able to see you after all these years, Amore Mio (1)."

* * *

(1) My beloved

**A/N:** Will learned Italian when he was little – I'm using this kind of setting so expect more Italian words in this story. I know nothing of said language but really interested in it thus using it here; it's another form of learning by knowing the meaning of the words I used, I think. I'm not entirely sure of the meaning though. Feel free to correct it if I got the meaning wrong. X"D Yep. This is another story of VaughnxChelseaxWill from me. XD


	4. Four

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing. This is a fanfic written for entertainment only.

**A/N:** As always, thank you for the feedback! X"D I've strayed-more like messed up-from my usual schedule thus updating is-very-late than I promised. I apologize for this. OTL English is not my first language. Pardon the bad grammar and stuff... n.n;

_Italic words _– Thoughts

* * *

**DAHLIA**

- 4 -

* * *

Chelsea caressed the petals of one from many of the white roses in the garden. As she feels the soft texture of the petals, a smile crept up onto her face – she was very much enjoying her time in the garden without anyone to bother her; not even Mark, her butler of which she had sent to make something that she knew would take more than a couple of minutes to be done. She chuckled to herself at the thoughts of Mark's defeated face when she stubbornly insisted that she wanted to have a Raspberry Pie as a company to the Darjeeling Tea she's currently having that afternoon.

It's been a week since she first arrived in Sunshine Kingdom. The King and Queen of Sunshine were out on a business trip the day she arrived so she only managed to greet them properly the day afterwards, at the banquet the King and Queen held-to welcome her to the kingdom-to be precise. For the past week Will had taken her around the castle – the library, the hall, the wide open space of the field behind the castle where the crown prince spent his time riding his beloved white horse Arthur. Will had been there with her for the past one week – they spent their times together almost all day, parting only when it was already dark and each needed rest in order to function normally in the next day. Will's away visiting one of the villages within the kingdom so she's not worried that her leisure walk around the garden will be interrupted by him taking her yet to another walk around the castle. _It's not that I don't like his company. It's just…I need some time to be alone to think._

During the short days she spent with the blonde-haired prince, Chelsea's interest was piqued by the language said crown prince spoke – Italian, the prince replied and he'd been taking classes of said language ever since he was a little boy. Will had told her that the country of where said language came from, which he visited only once, enchanted him; the food, the people, the culture – he told her that he would very much loved to visit the country again and if possible, he would love for her to come with him. The brunette princess blushed at his words and she earned herself a small chuckle from the blonde-haired prince.

Chelsea pondered upon what Will had told her during their first met; "It is a pleasure to finally be able to see you after all these years, Amore Mio (1)." It didn't help that Chelsea herself thought that the blonde-haired prince was familiar – it was like she had meet him before, only that she's not so sure whether it was just a trick played by her mind-after Will said that he was pleased to meet her again-or that she had really met the young prince before. If it was the latter, Chelsea thought, she can't quite remember the place or the time she came across the Sunshine Kingdom's crown prince.

Heaving a sigh and shaking off the thoughts of Will away from her head, the brunette princess resumed her stroll in the garden, walking away from the bushes of white roses to another bush of white flowers – it was one that Chelsea had never seen before. She stopped on her track, tilting her head left and right as she examined the flowers in front of her.

"Strange," she mumbled, placing a finger on her chin and reached forward to touch one of the unfamiliar flowers. "I do not think that I have seen your kind before, little one."

"Dahlia," a voice replied making Chelsea yelped out in surprise and she quickly turned around to find out who was the owner of the unexpected voice.

"Dear Harvest Goddess," the brunette princess breathed out a sigh of relief as she placed a hand on her chest. "You have surprised me, Vaughn. I hope you will refrain yourself from doing such thing in the future."

The interrupter raised an eyebrow, looking at the young woman in front of him with a questioning look. Chelsea gave out a small chuckle at the expression she received from the silver-haired man.

"I am merely providing you the answer to your question regarding the flower you are currently looking at, Your Highness," the knight said to her. "I apologize if what I have done offended you."

The princess of Sunny Kingdom quickly shook her head. "Goodness! Of course not! I was just…a little surprise at your sudden reply – I thought I was alone in this garden."

"Well, perhaps you should pay more attention to your surroundings, Your Highness. I have been here in this garden earlier than you," Vaughn added as he nodded towards some trees standing firmly in the middle of the garden. There were some bushes surrounding said trees, providing an excellent place for one to hide in the garden.

"Ah, I see," Chelsea nodded as she threw her glance towards the spot the knight motioned to her. "I am not surprised that I did not notice you earlier. Such spot is a suitable place for one to hide – or should I ask you, Vaughn, what were you doing in a place like that?"

The knight faked a small cough as his eyes locked on the bunch of white flowers next to him. "They were things that might not be…interesting to you, Your Highness."

"Humour me, my good sir."

Vaughn tore his stare away from the flowers and looked straight at the face of the brunette princess – she was smiling a teasing smile at him, as if she'd known whatever things he was doing in a place where no one else can see him.

The silver-haired knight raised a hand, raking his silver locks with it and sighed in defeat. "I was taking a nap," he answered her.

"A nap, you say? Here? In the middle of the garden?" Chelsea cocked an eyebrow.

"My fellow knights back at the quarter were kind of…noisy, if you must know," Vaughn shrugged. "I need a place to rest and coincidentally, the garden is a perfect place for me to do so. The garden usually will be empty at this kind of hour – not that a lot of people come here though."

"A shame, really," Chelsea said as her gaze returned back to the white flowers next to her – they're Dahlias, or so the young man besides her said so. "This garden is a wonderful place. It is such a waste that not many people come here and appreciate the beauty it provided."

"Which is exactly perfect for me," Vaughn added his opinion. "I do not wish to lose yet another place to rest peacefully."

"Another?"

"Am I obliged to tell you everything about the places I considered a relaxing spot for me, Your Highness?" the silver-haired man asked, trying not to show his annoyance too much his voice.

"No, of course not," the brunette princess shook her head; she knows better not to tread on someone else's privacy when she was still in term of 'acquaintance' with said person, especially people like Vaughn whom she knew would not appreciate people butting in in his business. "I apologize for asking such personal question."

Vaughn sighed. _For the love of Harvest Goddess, this princess is…_ "Forget it. And I am the one who should be apologizing; it was rude of me to use such tone in front of a princess. Forgive me," he said and bowed his head slightly to the young woman.

"You did nothing wrong, Vaughn," Chelsea turned her face to the knight. "You were merely expressing your opinion; I see nothing wrong with it. Or is this yet another rule in Sunshine Kingdom, asking forgiveness from a person that had stepped inside the line of one's private matters? Was it not the other way around?" she asked as her eyes, again, locked with the knight's.

They stared at each other's eyes for a couple of seconds before both started chuckling – actually it was only the princess who was laughing and Vaughn was trying to cover his obvious smirk with his hand.

_You're indeed an interesting one, princess of Sunny Kingdom._ "It is called-"

"Common courtesy," the brunette princess finished the sentence for the knight.

Vaughn raised an eyebrow at her words. "Actually, I was about to say 'common sense'," he told her.

A slight blush decorated the princess's cheeks. "O-oh. I…I was about to sa-correct that…," she stuttered, a finger scratching her already pink cheek.

"But of course," Vaughn nodded at her – this time, he made no attempt to hide the-second-smirk he'd shown the princess that day.

"W-well," Chelsea fought not to blush more and try to find another topic to talk about. "Ah, yes. T-the flowers," she started. _Get a grip, Chelsea. Stop embarrassing yourself in front of him!_ "They are-"

"Dahlia," this time, Vaughn finished her sentence for her. "Those flowers you are looking at right now are Dahlias," he continued and joined the brunette princess standing in front the bushes of said flowers. "There are pink ones as well," he pointed a finger-Chelsea's eyes automatically followed it-to some bushes not far from them – they're with the same shape of the ones they're currently looking at, only that the colour is different. "Is this your first time seeing this kind of flower, Your Highness?"

Chelsea nodded. "I have seen some with shapes somehow similar to these, but I am quite certain that they were from different species of flowers."

"I see. Indeed there are some with similar shape such as Dahlia but I assured you that they are not Dahlia."

"You seemed to be very knowledgeable about this, Vaughn."

"Pardon me?"

"Flowers," Chelsea replied as she plucked a flower and gently touched some of the many white petals the single flower in her hand has. "Are you interested in them?"

"Not at all," the silver haired-knight stared down at the fresh plucked Dahlia in the brunette princess's hand. "But the prince is very fond of them – he talked about them whenever we were in this garden, taking a stroll just like you."

"Will?" Chelsea looked up to him.

"Without a doubt. Since I am the one accompanying him, it is natural for me to know some facts about flowers when His Highness spoke about it."

"Do you not find it uninteresting – the facts about flowers that he told you during your walk?"

Vaughn shook his head. "Of course not. Rather, I found it to be quite fascinating, although I do admit that such topic does not interest me much. Did you know that each flower has their own symbolic meaning, that whatever flowers you gave people carried a secret message that you may or may not know wishing the people you gifted the flowers to?"

"That I do," Chelsea replied as she twirled the flower in hand. "But I am afraid that I do not know the meaning of this flower," she added and brought said flower in hand upwards to Vaughn's face.

"Dahlia carried a lot of meanings, Your Highness," Vaughn spoke as he took the flower from the princess's hand and smiling-which stunned Chelsea on the spot-, tucked said flowers in her strands of brunette locks up her right ear. "And one of the meanings-_not surprisingly_-suited you."

* * *

(1) My beloved

**A/N: **Which one of those many meanings Vaughn referred to? Take a guess. XD Anyway, I've said that this one is a short fanfic like Paper Cranes but it looks like it'll be longer that I intended it to be. I hope it won't reach more than 10 chapters though – it won't be called 'short' now if it did, right? XD Just like Paper Cranes, there is a reason why I use 'Dahlia' as a title for this fanfic. XD Thank you for reading this chapter. See you in the next one! (n.n)


	5. Five

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing. This is a fanfic written for entertainment only.

**A/N:** As always, thank you for the feedback! X"D Here's another chapter. I hope you'll enjoy reading it! English is not my first language. Pardon the bad grammar and stuff... n.n;

_Italic words _– Thoughts

* * *

**DAHLIA**

- 5 -

* * *

Will sipped on his tea as he listened carefully the sweet, serene song of Ave Maria the blonde-haired young woman in front of them sing. He stared from behind the cup in hand the face of the brunette princess sitting across him on the table; she had her focus completely on the singer, smiling at the singing figure, or if not at the pink-haired young man playing the piano behind the blonde singer.

"You seemed to enjoy it very much, Chelsea," he said as he put down the cup, smiling at the young woman.

"Indeed I am, Will," Chelsea turned to the prince, smiling back at him. "I never thought I will be able to hear such a wonderful version of Ave Maria in this kingdom. A talented person she is; Lady Lanna."

"Decisamente (1). As expected from the number one singer of the Opera House, do you not think so?"

Chelsea nodded. "I wish you told me about her earlier. I would not mind going to the Opera House just to watch her sing. And the young man behind her," she turned her head back to the stage. "He is a wonderful pianist," turning to Will once more, she raised an eyebrow. "I do not think I catch his name."

"He is Elliot, another member of the Opera House," Will answered as he too, turned his head to the stage. "He is one of two grandchildren of the Opera House's owner, Viscount Taro. I have heard that his sister is quite a violinist herself. Perhaps I should invite her to play a duet with his younger brother here at the castle one day."

Chelsea's face brightened and she clasped both hands together. "It is a wonderful idea, Will! Seeing how Sir Elliot plays, I can pretty much assume that his older sister is a fantastic player as well – there will not be any story regarding her talent if she is not talented, no? I would be delighted to see them perform together."

The blonde-haired prince let out a small chuckle. "I can clearly see your enthusiasm in this matter, Chelsea."

"W-was it something bad, to be thrilled in something…ridiculous such as these?" the brunette princess asked as she reached out for her cup on the table, shooting the prince across her a troubled look as she sipped quietly on her tea.

Will let out another chuckle, looking straight at the Sunny Kingdom's princess. "Anzi, tutt'altro (2). Liking said things are not ridiculous at all," he replied her, shaking his head. "It is just something that I never expected you to be – your interest in piano, violin and classical, I mean. You strike me as a carefree woman; one that would prefer spending her time outside the house rather than staying at home, listening to classical or to piano and violin pieces. You seemed to prefer more outdoor activities – horse riding for example than the ones that you do indoors."

Chelsea's face reddened at the blonde's comment. Struggling to hide the blush showing on both cheeks, she placed the cup down back on the table. "Well, that is not exactly wrong. I do love horse riding and did it a lot back in my kingdom even though I do not own a horse myself," her stare landed on the piece of White Chocolate Cake next to her almost-empty cup for a split second before lifting her face to face the prince's. "I guess I was influenced by my mother for she had always loved classical-Lizst being her favourite-and since we spent more times together compare to ones I spent with my father, I think it is natural for me to adapt one of her many interests, do you not think the same?" her lips curled into a smile as she finished her sentences.

"I agree," the blonde-haired prince simply replied, nodding his head. Then, he lifted a finger and scratched his cheek. "I apologize if my remarks earlier offended you, Chelsea. I did not mean that you are not feminine or anything related to that," he told her. "I sincerely think that the personality of yours, being feminine and strong at the same time, is quite charming-Nay. It is really an amazing trait to possess. You are an attractive woman. I can understand why the people of Sunny Kingdom love you."

The blush the brunette princess was trying to hide become a secret no more to both royalties as the brunette princess's cheeks are now painted with deep-crimson color and immediately Chelsea tore her gaze away from the prince and her eyes fixed on the blonde-haired singer on the stage – her song of Ave Maria's nearing the end. Will laughed quietly at the response he received from the brunette across him. Amused at the sudden change of air between them two, he joined the brunette princess watching the finale of the song.

It was a moment of silent between the two before Chelsea spoke, her eyes were still glued to the performers in front of her. "T-thank you for the compliment, Will. I have to say though that I am just like the other woman; I possessed no such things you've mentioned before and…"

Will cuts her sentence as he placed his hand on top of Chelsea's on the table-taking her by surprise but she didn't utter any word in protest-while his eyes, just like the brunette princess, were focused at the two people on stage – he was well aware that neither both received his full attention though as in his eyes he can only pictured a certain young woman; the brunette sitting next to him but in a much more younger version laughing heartily at him. "Whatever you say, Chelsea, it will not change the fact that I am truly blessed to have you as my fiancée," he tightened his grip on her hand. "To have you by my side." _I have longed for you to come here and to be by my side again._

xxxxxx

Vaughn raked his hair as he sat down on one of the many bench circled the fountain in the empty courtyard. He leaned his back on the bench, throwing his gaze upwards to the blue, clear sky. Mother Nature decided that it was enough for her to pour the content of her watering can down onto the earth and that it was time for the sun to come out from its hiding place, shining the damped soil and warming up the surrounding with its light; today is a perfect day for anyone to execute their outdoors activities – the Sunshine Kingdom's Tea Party hosted by the queen herself is one of said activities.

The silver-haired knight empty gazes glued to the moving clouds on the sky and he pay no attention to his surrounding, completely devoting his focus to whatever things he was thinking while staring at the sky. He assumed that no one will ever bother to be in the courtyard since the party-where everyone living within the castle area was invited regardless one's status or rank-is still going on; he himself was present until 5 minutes ago after witnessing…that.

_What is this feeling? They're engaged to each other, are they not? A simple gesture such as that is natural for them to do. And it's not even considered a taboo in this kingdom to hold the hand of one you hold dear. Why do I feel irritated watching they talk, watching that small chat they have while watching Lanna sing? Why do I feel annoyed watching the intimacy between the Sunny Kingdom's Princess and Prince William? And Prince William…_

"Are you in pain, Sir Vaughn?" a voice interrupted him.

Startled, Vaughn leaped from the bench and in reflex his hand rested on the silver sword dangling on his waist, unsheathing it from its sheath, ready to take down the intruder. That is, until he saw the face of the very person who snapped him out of his reverie. "You…?"

The blonde-haired young man dressed in a black swallowtail coat bowed his head slightly to the silver-haired man. "I am Mark, loyal butler of Princess Chelsea Eve Springfield."

Vaughn's shoulder slumped on both side as he relaxed and he returned the sword in hand back into its sheath. "Ah, yes. I remember. Pardon me. I am…not in my best condition right now. What is it that you require from me, Mark?"

Smiling at his question, Mark opened his mouth to reply," You are in love with her, are you not, Sir Vaughn?"

* * *

(1) Yes indeed.

(2) Quite the contrary.

**A/N: **...Judging on how I wrote and divided the chapters, the story will pretty much be more than 10 chapters. There goes my 'short story' plan. Lol. XD


	6. Six

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing. This is a fanfic written for entertainment only.

_Italic words _– Thoughts

* * *

**DAHLIA**

- 6 -

* * *

Vaughn turned to his right again – he's been tossing and turning his body on his bed for the past 45 minutes, unable to fall asleep. Something been bugging him ever since the little chat he had with Mark, the Sunny Kingdom's princess's butler and he can't name it what. Although the butler said nothing more than a few sentences related to his Lady, Vaughn somehow feels queasy about their conversation; he feels perturbed at the words spoken by the blonde-haired butler.

"You have no chance winning Princess Chelsea against Prince William."

Vaughn eyebrows knitted together as he recalled that one sentence the other man said to him. Winning against the prince? What the hell the butler was rambling about? He, on the first place, never intended to fight or anything with the blonde-haired prince. He knows where he stands; he's merely a knight of Sunshine Kingdom and the responsibilities of a knight is to fight for and protect the kingdom, the King and Queen and, especially, the blonde-haired prince of Sunshine Kingdom – one who he owed him his life; a debt that he was sure he can never reply back in an equal manner in his lifetime. And the princess…the brunette princess of Sunny Kingdom…

"You might as well give up chasing her."

Give up? Chasing Princess Chelsea? _Now that's pure insane._ He certainly never planned on courting the brunette princess. Vaughn admitted that he indeed, attracted to the brunette princess but wasn't everyone the same? Who wouldn't be charmed with personalities such as her? She's a kind-hearted young woman whose smile can brighten up one's day, hushing away all the sadness and sorrow said person's currently feeling, making them all warm and fuzzy inside with her sweet, soothing voice of 'everything will be okay'.

Vaughn blinked his amethyst orbs at his thoughts, at how he described the brunette princess. _W-wait a minute. Sweet? Soothing? What the – _

"It would be better if you stop while it is still early, while you have just started having that kind of feelings for her, Sir Vaughn."

"The hell you are talking about?"

"Ah. It seems that you are not fully aware of your feelings towards her. Yet."

"I repeat; I do not understand what you are trying to say, Mark."

"I wanted to say that you will eventually know what I am talking about but that will somewhat be an indirect encouragement to your feelings towards her so I will just say this; refrain yourself from getting involve further with Princess Chelsea – do not approach her aside for formal businesses."

Did the butler seriously think that he is in love with the brunette princess? _As if._ There is no way he could fall in love with someone; his heart is as cold as his glare and he intended it to be so as long as he live, never allow his heart to melt by the touch of things such as 'love' and 'affection'. Surely these feelings he had towards the Sunny Kingdom's princess are nothing more than a mere attraction, like a butterfly drawn to a beautiful flower with essence as sweet as honey – in the princess case it'll be people drawn to her kindness.

…Or is he wrong?

The aching pain on his chest that he felt when he saw the two royalties touched. His knitted eyebrows at the laughs the princess gave the prince. He clenching both fists as the prince leaned closer to the princess, whispering something in her ear, inaudible to his own. His eyebrow twitched at the sight of the princess smiling at the prince.

_Jealousy?_

"…Damn," the silver-haired knight cursed as he raked his hair in frustration. "There is no way I…Damn," he cursed for the second time and rose from his bed, walking towards the window near his bed, throwing his gaze out to the other knights training on the field in the middle of the Knights' Quarter – his room, which he shared with another knight was on the third floor of said quarter. He kept his gaze on several young men-whom he recalled the new recruits-training under Ganon, one of the senior knights of Sunshine Kingdom – Ganon was the same person who taught him when he first entered the knight division. He spotted a brunette recruit and immediately the face of a smiling certain brunette princess appeared in his mind. Vaughn quickly shook the thoughts away and massaged the bridge of his nose, grunting in the process.

"To hell with this all," he spat. _I need to clear my head._ He walked towards his wardrobe and took off his cape, changing into casual attire, putting his trusted sword inside of the oak dresser, closed it and exited his room.

xxxxxx

Vaughn cursed for the umpteenth time, once again removing the arm draped on his right shoulder, pushing away the other man with tanned skin's shoulder from leaning against his. "Do you mind?" he asked said man, never bothered to hide the tone of irritation in his voice.

"Aw, Vaughnie. Did you wake up at the wrong side of the bed, my friend?" the other man grinned and poked his best friend on the cheek. "You seemed to be even grumpier than you usually did this afternoon."

Vaughn sighed, slapping the tanned man's finger away from his cheek. "If I knew you people are going to be here, I swear to Harvest Goddess I will avoid this place for the rest of the day," he said bitterly as he leaned more onto his chair and crossed his arms over his chest.

There was a roar of laughter after the silver-haired knight made his comment. "Vaughnie is mad!" the same man said between laugh.

"Aww…Look at that cute pout!" a blonde hair woman sitting across the knights commented.

The silver-haired knight rolled his eyes. "I appreciate it if you stop calling me Vaughnie. My name is Vaughn."

"What?" the blonde-haired woman faked a gasp. "But Vaughnie is a wonderful pet name!"

"I do not remember being your pet," Vaughn's eyebrows narrowed at the woman as he stared at her for a couple of seconds before turning to the tanned man sitting beside him. "Please knock some sense into your wife's head, Danny."

Danny laughed again. "It is not like you to lose your cool so easy, Vaughn," he commented, waving a hand at his wife Lanna, an indication that she should stop with her teasing – which she did, but not before giving both her husband and the silver-haired knight an unsatisfied pout.

"I will never understand why on earth you are the top singer of the Opera House with that childish personality of yours," Vaughn ignored the tanned man's remark and smirked at the blonde-haired woman, earning him a view of the singer sticking her tongue out at him. "Speaking of which, what are you doing here, Danny? I thought you are out scouting the village on the south?"

The tanned knight shrugged. "I did," he answered. "But I think we are too late; the village is no more," he continued as his playful demeanour turned serious and he stared straight at the other man's eyes. "The situation is getting serious. I understand now why Prince William himself led the investigation; the situation is getting out of hand."

"I see," Vaughn nodded, dismissing the pang of uneasiness he felt at the mention of the blonde-haired prince's name. "Are there no people left in the village when the convoy arrived there?"

"No, there are. The villagers are safe. All of them. None were harm," Danny said as he switched to look at his wife who was keeping quiet, silently listening to the things discussed between him and the silver-haired knight. He smiled at her. "Do not worry, Lanna. They would not dare to enter the main city, much less attacking it. Everything will be fine," he assured her.

Lanna sighed. "It is only a matter of time before they come, Danny," she replied him. "I heard rumors that the number of people joining the rebellion increased each and every day. One can never know if the person beside him or her is a spy sent to scout the places in the city to find places suitable to place the bombs," she added, flipping her hair once in the process of expressing her thoughts. "I do not understand why they are doing this. Sunshine Kingdom is a wonderful place to live; the King, the Queen and the Prince are all kind people and they rule using justice as their base – I never thought people will be unhappy living in a peaceful place such as this kingdom."

"If we understand their reasons then we will not be here discussing about their wrongdoings – the royalties would have tried to fulfill whatever things they desired to have given the kindness they possessed," the blonde-haired woman's husband said, shaking his head at the behavior of the rebels. "It is a good thing that public knows little about this particular matter. Or else the kingdom will be in chaos now with people suspecting each other; accusing whoever that come across them as a member of the rebellion, a traitor to the kingdom. I trust you to keep whatever things we are talking here to yourself, dear?" he added and grinned at the blonde-haired singer, trying to cheer up said woman.

"Are you implying that I am a woman who loves gossiping about information considered as a secret passed down to me from my husband with other people?" Lanna asked as she raised an eyebrow at first, her husband and next to the silver-haired knight who in turn raised one of theirs to her. "Oh, for Harvest Goddess's sake!" she rolled her eyes. "I cannot believe that you gentleman did not trust me!" she said and threw her arms in the air, looking clearly frustrated with the response she'd gotten from the two men.

Danny laughed hard at her response while Vaughn's lips curled into a smirk. There was never a boring day with Danny and Lanna, the first is someone he could regard as his best friend-and the same knight who happens to be his roommate-although sometimes his too cheerful personality irked him. He watched as the blonde-haired woman jumped from the stage she's been sitting on and approached the tanned man, knocking her fist lightly on said man's head, making the man, while still laughing raised both hands in surrender and apologized to his wife. The tanned man who was previously branded-by the blonde-haired woman-as a stalker for kept on tailing her wherever she goes are now leading a happy life with the woman of his life, the same one who he'd been flirting and all for the past 2 years. Watching them bickering with each other, Vaughn wondered if having someone to love is really something worth to experienced in life – he had never find someone that can make his heart thump faster than its usual pace and he had never find a woman that manage to make him wanted to protect her with all his might and will never hesitant to sacrifice himself for her. Sure, he will protect Lanna but the feelings are not the same – she was merely a good friend of his and he valued his friendship with her. And that's that. Plus, Danny will be furious if he falls in love with his wife and Harvest Goddess knows what the tanned man will do to him if that happen.

The silver-haired knight switched his gaze to the stage in front of him. Aside from the lone black piano and some violin cases on a table next to the piano, nothing else was on it. The members of the Opera House are on a break, which is why he was here – to spend some time mingling with them. The people of the Opera House are like a family to him and he didn't mind talking to them and them to him. He thought that perhaps talking to them will ease himself from the burden of the unknown and unwanted feelings he's feeling right now.

Vaughn's thoughts wandered to the issue discussed by the three of them earlier. The rebellion, although it's only a small group consist of very few people-he believed only the info given by the people who formally investigating the case and not rumours spread by random people in random areas-managed to wrecked havoc at the places they attacked. Houses were burnt down. Livestock and farm produces were stolen. It was a question why none of the villagers were harm in the attacks. It is true that the main city is free from any attack but Vaughn, for once, agree at Lanna's words that it'll be a matter of time before the rebels attack the city.

_It would be dangerous if that happen. Moreover when the wedding between Prince William and Princess Chelsea is drawing near._

The silver-haired knight's eyebrows narrowed at his own thoughts, at the sudden image of a brunette princess appeared for a split second inside his mind. Again. _Damn it, Vaughn. I come here to relax, not to think more about her! Stop. Thinking. About. Her._ He ignored the continuous sound of the husband-wife pair arguing-he knows they're just teasing each other so he didn't bother to stop them-and looked back at the empty stage, locking his amethyst orbs on the several violin cases on the table he spotted earlier.

Nodding to himself, Vaughn rose from his chair, moving towards the stage and jumped up onto it, walking straight towards the items his eyes have been focusing at before. He stared at the cases for some seconds before caressing one of them and opened it. A hazel-colored violin greeted his eyes. He smiled and with his hands took the violin out from its case. He positioned the item on his arm and shoulder, fixing his grip on the violin. The silver-haired knight closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. He breathed out after some seconds and opening his eyes, he raised the bow in his right hand and as the bow touched the strings of the instrument in his other hand, Danny and Lanna's argument reached its end immediately.

The sound of Kreisler's Liebesfreud perfect tune echoed in the, save for Danny, Lanna and Vaughn himself, empty auditorium. The silver-haired knight was so immersed in his play that he never noticed the presence of two new people who along with the husband-wife pair watched with interest-and amazement for one of the newcomers-said knight performed. It was only when Vaughn was done with his play he heard claps belonged to more than two people and turning to his audience, his eyes widen in shock when he saw the newcomers.

"You never mentioned that you are blessed with the gift to play violin, Vaughn," the brunette princess commented, giving him that same smile the silver-haired knight had been seeing in his mind since he woke up from his sleep that morning.

* * *

**A/N: **Long chapter is long. XD And this chapter is about Vaughn…and his insecurity about the alien feelings he's feeling. I think violin is fit for Vaughn. Haha. 8D


	7. Seven

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing. This is a fanfic written for entertainment only.

_Italic words _– Thoughts

* * *

**DAHLIA**

- 7 -

* * *

"Y-your Highnesses? How– When did both–?"

"Prince William and Princess Chelsea arrived not long after you started playing," the silver-haired knight's best friend answered him with a grin, clearly amused by the flustered look plastered on the silver-haired knight's face.

Will chuckled. "I know you well when you are playing the violin, Vaughn; you tend to ignore everything else around you. It is hardly a surprise for you not to notice our presence here."

"I-I apologize, Your Majesty," Vaughn bowed his head slightly to the two royalties in front of him. "It was rude of me not to properly greet you when you arrived," he said, jumping down from the stage with the hazel-colored violin still in his hand and once again bowed his head to the royalties when he stood in right in front of them.

"Vaughn, remember when I told you not to be too strict to yourself?" the blonde-haired prince chuckled again. "There is nothing to apologize for. And it is not like I am here for official business. I am merely fulfilling my promise to Chelsea bringing her to the Opera House she had wanted very much to visit," he continued as he turned to the brunette princess next to him, smiling at her.

Chelsea nodded. "I wanted to see at least once the famous Opera House of Sunshine Kingdom. I adore the skill of Sir Elliot playing piano and Lady Lanna's astonishing voice," she said as she turned to Lanna and smiled at the blonde-haired singer.

"Oh, my! Princess Chelsea complimented me!" Lanna said as she cupped her cheeks with both hands, grinning widely at the words of praise she had just received. "I am honoured, Princess Chelsea, to received such kind words from you," she added as she poked the shoulder of her husband standing beside her. "Danny! Princess Chelsea is my fan! Hah! Beat that!"

The blonde-haired singer's husband sweat dropped. "Uh, honey? You might want to tone down the excitement a bit. We are in front of the Prince and Princess now," he replied her, patting her on the head before turning his face to the royalties and Vaughn. "I am sorry about this. My wife gets excited easily whenever someone compliments her singing."

The brunette princess giggled. "She is cute. You are very lucky to be married to her, Sir…uh…"

"Danny, Your Highness," the tanned knight bowed to the princess of Sunny Kingdom. "My name is Danny. I am the same as Vaughn; a knight of Sunshine Kingdom, serving directly under Prince William."

Chelsea executes a perfect curtsy at the tanned knight. "It is nice meeting you, Sir Danny," she said, standing up straight after finishing her greeting.

"The pleasure is all mine, Your Highness," Danny replied, scratching the back of his head before continuing. "Please just call me Danny. The title 'Sir' gives me goose bumps," he said before hugging both shoulder, pretending to shiver from the non-existing coldness inside the auditorium.

Lanna rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. Who was the one who laughed like an idiot every single time someone addressed him 'Sir', hmm?"

"Urgh."

Chelsea placed a hand on her mouth to stifle a laugh but failed as small chuckles managed to escape the gaps between her fingers. "You have interesting people surrounding you, Will. There must be no boring days with them around," she commented.

"Certamente (1)," Will nodded in agreement to the brunette princess's comment. "Danny and Lanna are fun to be around with. Now if only Vaughn is – ah, forgive me," Will quickly shook his head as Vaughn turned to him. "I do not mean imprinting bad impression of you in others' eyes, Vaughn," he said, giving the silver-haired knight an apologetic look. "I just feel you need to let loose of yourself once in a while and not to think about your work all the time."

Vaughn eyebrows narrowed. "Do I really leave such impression on you, Your Highness, that I am a person who thinks about work twenty four hours a day, seven days per week?"

Placing a hand on his fellow knight's shoulder, Danny laughed. "See, my friend? Did I not tell you to turn that frown upside down and try to have more fun rather than just spending your time training with others and sparring with them until late evening?"

The silver-haired knight grunted at the tanned knight's comment. "I do have my share of fun, thank you very much, Danny."

"Then please tell us the last time you play the violin," Lanna butted in, pointing to the violin in the silver-haired knight's hand while cocking and eyebrow. "I know you like playing violin and is very skilled in it-Natalie even announced you as her strongest rival-but why do you not have one of that instrument inside your quarter?"

"I do not see any need to have one in a place where I should focus on my job and training," Vaughn answered, looking down at the instrument in his hand the blonde-haired singer is pointing. "Such thing will only hinder me from focusing on my job. I am content enough spending my time training and sparring with the other knights. Unlike someone who seemed to always be sick during training sessions and skipped halfway of the scheduled training everyone should've gone through for the day."

Danny, ignoring the words of his best friend-even though he is aware that the other knight is talking about him-sighed as he patted the same shoulder he had his hand on earlier. "Aah. That is exactly what I am talking about, Vaughnie," he said. "Training and sparring are not exactly things one would describe as 'having fun'."

"Vaughnie?" Chelsea interrupted, throwing a confused look at the silver-haired knight.

Said knight shook his head at the look he's been given. "Please pay no attention to that, Your Highness. That is merely –"

"Vaughnie is Vaughn's pet name!" Lanna chirped happily, cutting whatever thing Vaughn was about to say. "Do you not agree that it is a name befitting him, Your Highness?"

"P-pet name?" the crease between the eyebrows on the brunette princess's forehead deepened. She turned to Will when she heard him chuckled and tilted her head at him, as if asking him 'what's so funny?'

"Vaughn is called Vaughnie here in the Opera House. Although I am not entirely sure the origin of the name, I am sure it was either Danny or Lanna who came up with it," the blonde-haired prince provided the other royalty an explanation to the pet name thing.

The silver-haired knight used his free hand to massaged the bridge of his nose – frustration can clearly be seen on his face as he took in a deep breath before turning to the owner of the hand which was dangling on one of his shoulders and shot him a you-are-so-dead-after-this look.

Chelsea, who sensed the tension building up inside the silver-haired knight decided to chose another topic for the conversation. "Pardon me for asking this," she started. "I was wondering where the rest of the members of the Opera House are? Will said that we can meet them during this hour today-since there are no shows going on-but other than Lady Lanna, I do not think I have seen anyone else in here."

"Ah, we are taking a break right now, Princess," Lanna answered her. "And since we do not expecting any visitors today, the break time had been planned to be longer than usual. I am sure they are in the dining room right now, having small talks while sipping on some tea and eating snacks made by Felicia."

"Felicia?"

"She is the daughter of Viscount Taro," it was Will who replied the brunette princess's question. "I did mention about Viscount Taro, the owner of the Opera House previously during Elliot and Lanna's performance, did I not?"

Chelsea nodded. "Ah, yes. I remembered," she said as she turned back to the blonde-haired singer. "Are they all here? If it is not too much trouble, I would love to meet them in person."

"Not at all, Your Highness," Lanna shook her head, adding that all the members of the Opera House are indeed in the Opera House. "If you want, I can call them here to meet you."

"Please, there is no need to do that," Chelsea smiled anxiously. "I do not wish to interrupt whatever things they are doing right now," she said. "That being said, I would not mind going there to meet them."

The blonde-haired singer raised a hand excitedly, earning her words the same as before about her excitement from her husband next to her – she replied him by sticking her tongue out at him, making the two royalties chuckled and the silver-haired knight sighed in defeat. "Let me have the honour escorting you there, Princess Chelsea! I know all the ways in this Opera House so navigating this place is very easy! You will not get lost when you are with me!"

"Well, obviously. Since you technically live here," Vaughn muttered quietly to himself.

Apparently the singer heard him and she glared daggers at him. "What was that, Vaughnie?" she asked in a threatening, sing-sang voice.

The silver-haired knight didn't feel intimidated at all but chooses to not repeat his previous sentences so that the singer can move along to somewhere else not the auditorium right now – he had enough headaches for the day and keep on dealing with Lanna will surely give him more. "I did not say anything. Now be on your way," he told him.

The prince and knights watched as Lanna took the brunette princess by her hand and dragged her away while mentioning something about formalities between the two female. As soon as their figures are no longer visible to his eyes, Danny let out a sheepish grin, scratching the back of his head nervously while apologizing to Will about his wife's behaviour for taking Chelsea so sudden without giving the brunette princess time to properly ask the blonde-haired prince permission to leave his side. Will dismissed his apology and told him it was nothing to ask forgiveness for – he knows exactly the person Lanna is and is glad that Chelsea finally has the time to meet someone else and possibly make friends with said people.

"It will be a good change of pace for Chelsea," Will said, smiling at his own words. "I am sure she is bored staying in the palace without anyone to talk to other than Mark. I am not around as much as well nowadays, even with the wedding drawing near," he continued as his smile was gone and a frown now decorated his face.

Vaughn watched as Danny assured the blonde-haired prince that it's not his fault for his constant absence in the palace. He studied the troubled look on the royalty's face – it was an expression of pure regret and distress; he didn't like the fact that he spends little time with his fiancee and is clearly depressed over said matter. Vaughn tightened his grip on the violin in his hand. Prince William really loves Chelsea – there is no doubt about the feelings said prince hold for the princess of Sunny Kingdom. Vaughn recalled the words Mark had said to him yesterday – the record of their previous conversation is playing itself in his mind; the silver-haired knight's eyebrows once again narrowed at the butler's accusation of him falling in love with the butler's Lady. He was unaware of the calls from the prince and his best friend until Will placed a hand on his shoulder, startling him and making him almost drop the violin in his hand.

"Is everything alright, Vaughn?" the blonde-haired prince asked, a tinge of concern can easily be detected from him voice. "Is there something wrong?"

_It seems like I've been daydreaming in a wrong place._ "There is nothing wrong, Your Highness," Vaughn shook his head at the prince. "I am sorry for spacing out. What was the question?" he asked back.

"Ah, I need to talk to Danny details about his previous inspection at the village in the south," Will told him. "I need you to do me a favour."

xxxxxx

"Natalie is really serious about defeating you in a violin contest," the brunette princess said as she nodded to a man passing by them on the street who bowed his head to her. "What exactly did you do to her for her to have such determination in beating you?"

Vaughn shrugged. "Other than showing her how I play a piece of her favorite Paganini, I do not think I did something else related to violin with her that leads her to hate me – well, not really hate but dislike me. I am not sure about the reasons though. I am sure I did nothing to offend her during our meetings with each other, be it outside or inside the Opera House."

Chelsea chuckled. "Whatever you did, it was sure enough to stir her to reached a resolve practicing hard not only for the improvement of her performance but to beat you as well. Did you take her on the violin contest held in previous season by the Opera House?"

"I am not interested in participating in any contest," the silver-haired knight stated bluntly. "I prefer spending my time training rather than playing violin."

"Oh? Then what is that case you are carrying? Is it not a violin case?"

Vaughn switched his focus from the road in front of them to the small stall selling apples on his right. "…Prince William insisted that I take this back to my quarter," he simply answered.

Chelsea lifted her face from staring at the violin case to the silver-haired knight and smiled. "Will must have wanted you to spend more time having fun," she said, throwing her focus at the apple stall the knight is staring at. "I heard that you really enjoy playing violin."

"Used to."

"Ah, but that is not what I saw earlier – you clearly still love playing it, am I wrong, Vaughn?"

Vaughn turned to the brunette princess and cocked an eyebrow. "And the basis for such claim would be?"

"Your expression while you are playing. Oh, and of course your focus in your play as well," Chelsea continued. "Your focus while playing is really amazing, Vaughn. Only a true devotee to his or her playing will be that passionate in his or her play. I am not surprised if Natalie declared you as a rival even though you are not playing violin professionally – it is hard to find someone with as much passion in violin like you and Natalie."

"I see," the silver-haired knight replied, at the same time ending their short conversation and turned back to the busy street in front of them.

They're walking side by side on a street full with vendors left and right, selling various kinds of things range from food to other daily supplies. Will had asked Vaughn to take Chelsea back to the palace as he wanted to talk more to Danny about the tanned knight's investigation. He glanced at the brunette princess whose attention was caught by a stall selling crafted wood decoration and stared at her smiling-with-interest face for some seconds before turning back to face the bustling street ahead of them.

Even if he did fall for the brunette princess-something that he strongly denied-, would he really be so heartless, snatching away the love of his Lord, separating her from him just to satisfy his own need of having the brunette princess all for himself? He doubt that he can make her smile the smile the princess currently has decorating her lips if she were to be with him and he doubt he can make the princess happy if they were to be together. _She deserves someone better. Prince William is the only person suitable for her._ Vaughn thinks it is weird for him to muse over the relationship between him, Chelsea and Will; it's not as if he is in love with the brunette princess and that the brunette princess loves him, but he can't seems to stop thinking about it – about the possibilities of him loving Chelsea. _I must have been influenced by the words Mark said yesterday. Perhaps ignoring his claims and these weird feelings I'm starting to feel whenever I think about the Sunny Kingdom's Princess will lessen these restless days I'm having._

"I almost forgot," Vaughn stopped abruptly on his track as he turned to the brunette princess beside him and she looked back at him with a questioning look. "Prince William informed me that there will be a ball tomorrow night at the palace. Although it is not necessary for you to come, he would very much love it if you join in – and perhaps, be his date for that night."

* * *

(1) Indeed

**A/N: **It's Will's turn to be in the spotlight – and he will be in the next chapter. XD By the way, any suggestion on the antagonist for this story? I need two-characters from IoH and SI since this story is using that version-but can't seem to think any. And who do you prefer Chelsea to end up with? I already have a plan but it's fun to hear your thoughts. XD Any suggestion is always welcome! X"D


	8. Eight

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing. This is a fanfic written for entertainment only.

_Italic words _– Thoughts

* * *

**DAHLIA**

- 8 -

* * *

Will stared at the piece of paper in his left hand while his other hand massaged his forehead. His eyebrows narrowed as he read halfway the written words on said paper and sighed before placing the paper down onto his table. He leaned against his chair, closed his eyes and let out another sigh.

"What is the matter?" a voice was heard and he immediately opened his eyes.

Will shook his head to the owner of the voice before smiling at her. "I just cannot believe that 'he'…," his voice faded and he once again shook his head. "It is nothing, cousin."

Sabrina watched as the blonde-haired prince leaned forward to his table, placed both elbows on the table, intertwining his palms together and buried his face beneath them. She smiled faintly at her cousin, placed the book she's been reading on the end table near her and rose from her seat, walking towards the crown prince. "Seeing you behave like this, Will, I hardly say that there is nothing wrong," she said to him as she stood in front of him across the table. "You will only act like this when something is bothering you."

"Ahaha. I guess I cannot fool you," the blonde-haired prince let out a small laugh while uncovering his face and looked straight at the raven-haired woman across him. "This is just too much for me to stomach in one go," he continued, switching his focus to the piece of paper on his table he had read earlier. "For someone like 'him' to do such thing… It is very hard for me to fathom it."

"Nonetheless they are real, Will. Those words written on that paper are true facts."

"Are you not bothered about it, Sabrina?" Will asked as he lifted his face to the raven-haired woman's.

Sabrina didn't respond him immediately. Instead, she walked towards the window near the prince's study table and peered outside. "I would be lying if I say I am not concerned about it," she replied. "However, 'he' is clearly on fault at this so there is nothing much I can do about it, right?"

Will stared at the back of his raven-haired cousin. He knows that even though she said something about not being able to do anything about the truth that they both learned since last week-which was confirmed by the piece of paper currently lying on his table-, he was sure that she'd been thinking nothing but ways to save 'him' from punishments that awaits 'him'. Will himself felt queasy each time the thoughts of condemning 'him' crossed his mind – he's never happy to do such thing to someone whom he holds dear. But betraying the country is a sin; wrecking havoc in the country by attacking places where innocent people live and plotting a scheme to kill the royalties of Sunshine Kingdom are something serious that can never be forgiven.

'_He's' changed. 'He's' not the same kind and loving man I've used to know._ "Is 'he' aware that you know about this?" the blonde-haired prince asked as he reached for the paper in front of him, bringing it closer to his face and re-read it.

Sabrina turned to Will and shook her head at his question. "No. I do not think so. I am very careful with my investigation. I do not think 'he' suspects anything."

Will nodded at the answer he received. "If possible, keep it that way," he told her and stared straight at his cousin eyes. "Please be very careful with what you are doing, Sabrina."

xxxxxxxxxxxx

"Will this be okay, Chelsea?" the blonde-haired butler asked as he raised the gold-colored dress in his hand.

Chelsea placed a finger on her chin and tilted her head, staring at the dress Mark is showing her. "The color is good, but the design is way too fancy for my taste," she answered and shook her head. "I do not think I want to wear that to the ball."

Mark sighed. "You are a princess, Chelsea. Your dresses are supposed to be this fancy," he said as he placed the dress in his hand down onto the brunette princess's bed on top of some dresses the princess had rejected earlier. "The design looks okay for me. I am sure you will look fine in it."

"I do not think so. Did you not see those laces and ribbons on the skirt?" she cocked an eyebrow, pointing her finger at the dress Mark previously showed her. "It looks heavy. And I have yet to try it on."

"It looks fine for me," Mark replied as he took out two more dresses, one in each hand and showed it to the brunette princess. "How about these?" he asked, simultaneously waved both dresses to her.

Chelsea puffed at the pink dress in Mark's left hand and was about to wave a hand in dismissal at the other when her action halted midair. Her eyebrows knitted together as her eyes caught a glimpse of red fabric among the leftover dresses hanging next to her butler. She stood up, making Mark cocked an eyebrow at her as she dig a hand in between a green and purple-colored dress. She took out a red dress and her face beamed in happiness. "This," she said while her eyes feast on the dress in her hands. "I will be wearing this, Mark."

Mark, with dresses still in his hands approached his Lady and his eyes trailed down to the red dress in her hands. It's a simple yet elegant red dress with not-too-much laces and ribbons on the skirt – something that Mark sure one of the main reason Chelsea had her attention on said dress. The chest part of the dress is decorated with elaborated bead work and a small, silver-colored, flower-shaped corsage was pinned right on the center of the group of small beads.

"It is lovely," the blonde-haired butler nodded at the choice of the brunette princess. "And red suits you well, Chelsea. This dress will definitely catch the eyes of many at the ball…and your date for the night too," he grinned at her.

Chelsea blushed at his comment. "I-I picked this one not for that reason, Mark," she said, pouting at his remark.

Mark chuckled at her reply. He believed her words, of course, but he will never to pass up a chance to tease the brunette princess. "Since you had decided on a dress," he said and tossed the dresses in hands on top of the others. "We should start choosing a mask suitable to your dress."

"A mask?" the brunette princess cocked an eyebrow at his words. "What do masks have to do with the ball?"

"Oh? Did you not hear, Chelsea?" Mark answered her question with another question. "The ball requires everyone who attends it to wear mask – it is a masquerade party. "

xxxxxxxxxxxx

"This is ridiculous," the silver-haired knight grunted as he stared the people conversing with each other in front of him. "We are only going to guard the people who attend the ball, to make sure that everyone's safety is guaranteed. Why should we dress up and put on a mask as well?"

"It is the rule of the party," Danny replied as he fixed the knot of his cape. "Security or not, the rules apply to everyone who attends it. You and I are not an exception to it."

Vaughn took a quick peek at his best friend and sighed – Danny is clearly enjoying the party even with Lanna is not by her side for the moment. Vaughn switched his focus back to the other people in the party. They're all clad in outfits of various colors and their masks, even though some clearly didn't match their garments-in Vaughn's opinion-are in various forms – some even got large feathers and a massive amount of beads decorating it. Vaughn had himself dressed up-thanks to the constant nagging from Lanna to come with not-his-everyday-clothes-for the party and is wearing a mask that covered three-fourths of his face-courtesy of the blonde-haired singer who apparently told him that the mask suits him very much when she handed it to him earlier when he was about to enter the hall with Danny-. His mask, unlike the others that burst with vibrant colors is more of a simple one consists of only two colors; purple and black. It seemed to him that Lanna had thought ahead that he was sure to pick black-based outfits-which he did-for the party and such mask will no doubt compliment his overall appearance.

"My wife has a great sense of fashion so clear away the hesitations you are having about your appearance tonight, Vaughn," Danny said as he nudged his elbow at the silver-haired knight's arm.

"I am not thinking about my outfits nor about the mask I am wearing," Vaughn rolled his eyes at the tanned knight.

"Oh? So were you thinking about a certain brunette princess?"

The silver-haired knight's body tensed at the other man's words. He turned to him and narrowed his eyebrows at him. "What are you talking about?"

Danny laughed. "Do not give me that look, Vaughn. I can clearly see how you feel towards the princess of Sunny Kingdom yesterday's morning when the prince talked to you about escorting her back to the palace while he stayed behind to talk to me," he replied. "Although I have to say, it is somehow kind of weird to see you harbor such feelings towards someone since you are so cold to everyone else minus me and those in Opera House."

"What you are talking about makes no sense, Danny," Vaughn asked as he continued to glare at the tanned knight. "I hold no such feelings towards her."

Danny shook his head at him. "Do you, Vaughn?" he turned to face him, challenging him with a glare of his own. "You have not been yourself ever since you come back from Sunny Kingdom. Did you not notice that yourself?" he said to him. "I know you have spent quite a lot of time with the princess during the absence of Prince William and I am not surprised if you started to feel that way towards her."

"Were you stalking me, Danny?"

"Of course not! I was just happened to be around the areas where you and Princess Chelsea were conversing with each other – especially in the garden where you love to spend your free time after practicing. I have never seen you being that happy before," he countered."It will be easier for you if you just admit your feelings towards her, Vaughn. I am sure it will lessen the pain of whatever situations you are in right now. Even though you–"

"Stop," the silver-haired knight interjected, tightening his grip on his arms. "Just…stop."

"I was only–"

"Danny," the silver-haired knight growled at the other man.

Danny, knowing the other knight more than 5 years knows exactly when said man is really mad. It's a rare occurrence for it to happened but when it did, he knows well not to talk more to said knight, to push further whatever topics they're discussing – this is exactly the time for him to do so. The knights keep on staring at each other for a couple more seconds before Danny let out a grin, causing Vaughn to cocked an eyebrow in irritation at him as if to say 'what the hell is so funny?'.

"Speak of the devil," Danny said, nodding at something behind the silver-haired knight. "It seems like Lady Luck is with you tonight," he told him and walked pass by him.

Vaughn turned around to see the things or person Danny was so happy to meet. His eyes widened in shock as he saw the figure in front of him. Standing there beside Danny is the princess of Sunny Kingdom, Chelsea Eve Springfield, dressed in the most beautiful red dress he had ever lay his eyes on. She, like him, is wearing a mask-red in color-and even though her face was covered just like his by her mask, Vaughn can tell in one glance that the woman who was talking to Danny is the brunette princess that occupied his mind quite a lot lately. His arms dropped to both side and he was biting his lip as Danny and the brunette princess approached him.

"This here is my good friend, My Lady," Danny gestured his hand to Vaughn.

"Good evening, Sir," Chelsea said as she greeted him with a curtsy. "I hope you would not mind my lack of skill in dancing."

"What?" Vaughn replied as he straightened up his body from his bow.

"Please excuse us for some seconds, My Lady," the tanned knight smiled apologetically, pulled Vaughn's arm and turned to the opposite side. "Dance with her, Vaughn," he whispered to the silver-haired knight.

Danny's request shocked him. "Are you out of your mind, Danny?" he grumbled back at the tanned knight. "You do realize who she is, right?"

"Of course I do," Danny nodded and grinned. "She is Princess Chelsea. Apparently the prince is away for the time being answering the King's summon and now she is currently left alone without anyone to dance with," he explained. "Have no worries, Vaughn. She does not know who you are. She cannot even identify me," Danny chuckled. "Remember that this is a masquerade party and that everyone here is prohibited to remove their mask and tell the others their true identity? With that mask of yours that covered almost all of your face, I do not think it will be easier for her to recognize you."

Vaughn pondered upon his best friend's words. True that those rules were set for the ball tonight and with his mask on his face as well as the outfit he'd never wears before attached to his body, it's hard for people to know who he really is – Natalie didn't even recognize him when she bumped into him minutes before. Vaughn peeked over his shoulder and stared at the brunette princess whose gaze was wandering around the hall, smiling to no one in particular.

"Go on, Vaughn. This is your chance to get closer to her," Danny patted the silver-haired knight once on his back.

"…You planned this from the beginning, did you not?"

Danny shrugged. "I do not know what you are saying," he said, blinking his eyes innocently at the other man. "Ah! Lanna is calling me!" he continued as he waved to a certain blonde-haired woman standing across two tables from their location. "Have fun, my friend," he winked before he pushed the other man forward and dashed towards the figure he was waving his hand at before.

_That Danny. I'll get you back for this later._ Vaughn turned to the brunette princess and noticed that she was laughing. "Is there something wrong?" he asked her, confused by her action.

"Oh, it is nothing," she answered between giggles. "Danny is a funny man, is he not?"

"…I see you have figured out his true identity," he said and held his hand out, signalling for her to take it.

Chelsea paused from laughing and smiled at him. "I am good in remembering people's voice after hearing them speak once. And it is not actually that hard to tell that it is him underneath that fancy mask of his, Vaughn," she added and took his offered hand, twining their fingers together as the silver-haired knight guide her to the dance floor.

"He will cry when he found out that you already discovered his self-proclaimed perfect disguise," Vaughn smirked as they started moving to the pretty, light tune of Elgar's Salut D'amour that started to play.

"That is likely what he is going to do," the brunette princess chuckled.

"Speaking of which, you have yet to tell me how you figured out my identity."

"You were with Danny?" she told-more like asking-him. "I have heard from Will that some knights are on guard on tonight's ball. I have a feeling that if you were to participate in it, you will be paired up with Danny," she continued as she leaved the proximity of the silver-haired knight's body and spun her body once before leaning forward to the knight and had his hand placed onto her waist again. "Plus, the mask you are wearing kind of gave away your identity."

"It seems that I need to talk about Lanna about her claims that no one will recognize me in these outfits."

"I suppose that she will act the same as her husband?"

"Probably."

The brunette princess laughed. "They are a perfect match to each other; do you not think so, Vaughn?"

"I agree," Vaughn simply replied and nodded approvingly at her remark, saying nothing more to further their conversation.

The silver-haired knight had his eyes on the aquamarines of the brunette princess, gazing fondly into her sparkling orbs during their dance. Chelsea's cheeks were tainted with pink colors as she realized that the knight's eyes are on hers for some time now.

"What is the matter, Vaughn?" she suddenly asked as the music switched to Liszt's Un Sospiro. "You have been staring at my face for some seconds now. Do I look really funny with this mask on my face?"

The princess's question snapped him out of his reverie. "N-no!" he quickly answered. His somewhat loud voice earned him glances from the pairs dancing around him. He bowed his head and muttered words of apology to the pairs and turned back to the brunette princess in front of him. "I mean…I-I apologize. I did not realize that I am staring at you. It was rude of me to do so," he told her while trying to hide his embarrassment of getting caught staring at her.

"You can laugh if you want, Vaughn," she told him with a smile. "This mask was picked by Mark and although I have expressed my dislike towards it, he insisted that I wear it to this ball."

"…It suits you."

Chelsea's eyes widened at his comment. "It does?"

"Very much," the silver-haired knight added, for once thanking Lanna for the shape of his mask that covered almost all of his face, hiding his flushed face from the brunette princess. "Mark is right choosing the mask for you, Your Highness."

Chelsea was left speechless at the answer she received from the silver-haired knight she was dancing with. She was complimented by many previously, including Will before she comes across Danny and Vaughn. Danny did the same and she was happy with the praises of her outfit and mask but it's a different feelings altogether when she heard the compliment from the silver-haired knight. She was of course happy for it but at the same time she feels something else aside from the bursting happiness she was feeling – it was a feeling she herself can't name what.

"Your Highness?" Vaughn called the princess when he didn't receive any feedback from her. _Is she mad at me? Perhaps it's not a wise move to say what I've said before._ "I am sorry–"

Chelsea shook her head quickly before the man in front of her finished his sentences. "Apology is not needed, Vaughn," she finally speak and lifted her face from the ground to face his. "Thank you, Vaughn. It was…nice for you to say that. I…really appreciate your comment."

"S-sure," the silver-haired knight mumbled and looked away, avoiding his eyes to meet the princess' and the smile plastered on her face.

They continued their dance in awkward silence for a couple more minutes; neither try to make conversation or meet one's gaze. Both are lost in their own world – they didn't realize that they're thinking about the same things; their feelings towards each other. The music soon faded and as the last sound of Natalie's play leaved her violin, the pair's movement halted immediately. Vaughn released his grip on Chelsea's hand and waist and bowed to her while Chelsea replied him with a curtsy. Vaughn let out a small smile, thanking her for allowing him to dance with her tonight.

"The pleasure is all mine, Vaughn," the brunette princess shook her head at him. "You have surprised me again; I never thought that you are an excellent dancer."

Vaughn smiled. "To be completely honest, I have not danced for quite some time. I was afraid that my uncertain steps will ruin the routine we previously had."

"I assure you that it is not true," Chelsea chuckled. "Have some confidence in yourself, Vaughn."

"If Your Highness says so," he replied as his attention was caught by a certain knight waving at him from a table near the stage. His mind replayed the conversations he had with Mark and Danny. _They were right. I shouldn't just ignore these feelings I'm having towards the princess. They did nothing but make my life even miserable than usual. But whose suggestion should I follow? _Making up his mind, Vaughn nodded to the other knight and turned to the princess. "Your Highness," he started. "If you–"

Vaughn's words were cut off by the sound of someone's clapping behind him. He spun his heels around and his mood immediately changed when he saw the one who produced said sound.

"It was a brilliant routine," the blonde-haired prince said to the pair as he paused from clapping. "I see that you are still an excellent dancer, Vaughn," he added as he turned to the silver-haired knight.

_He recognized me?_ Vaughn bowed his head to the other man. "Thank you, Your Highness. I am honored to be praised by you. However, there is still a lot for me to learn about dancing. I could not possibly beat the best dancer in Sunshine Kingdom with my level now."

Will laughed."You exaggerating way too much about my dancing skill, Vaughn," he replied before turning to the brunette princess. "My sincere apology for leaving you alone, Chelsea. I have no intention to stand you up for so long but it seems that the conversation between me and father was longer than I expected.

"It is fine, Will. I understand your duty as the crown prince of Sunshine," she said, smiling at him. "And it is not like you can predict that summon from the King, am I wrong?"

"I am happy that you understand, Chelsea," Will smiled at her before turning to Vaughn again. "Thank you very much for accompanying Chelsea during my absence, Vaughn. I am grateful for your time even though you are busy with your job guarding the guests who attends the ball."

"I am pleased that the princess enjoyed my company," the silver-haired knight said, trying to hide the tone of disappointment in his voice. "If there is nothing else that I can assist–"

"Wait," Chelsea interrupted and both men turned to stare at her. "Pardon me for asking this, but I am curious about something," she continued as she turned to Vaughn's direction. "Vaughn, you possessed quite a lot of talents to be called a knight. I can tell that you possessed more other than playing violin and dancing. I might be nosy but I cannot help asking you this – are you really a knight?"

The person in question's left eyebrow twitched. Telling stories about his past life is never his favorite thing to do. For him, the past is the past – he hates thinking and indulging himself in memories of his previous life. So far, only Prince William and Danny knows his past and he's not actually fond of the idea telling more people about said thing. Will watched as the silver-haired knight kept his lips shut and understand completely the reason why said knight kept his past a secret from others aside him and Danny – he is, after all the one who took him in and let him live as a Knight in Sunshine Kingdom.

Deciding that he should do the talking since there is no sign that the silver-haired knight will speak, Will faked a cough, gaining himself attention from the knight and the princess. "Chelsea, Vaughn is actually–"

The rest of Will's words were cut off by a loud, exploding sound coming from the stage – the piano exploded and is currently on fire. The guests started screaming and shouting as the tables around them started to explode one by one, leaving the shattered pieces of plates and glasses scattering around the floor of the hall. People are running everywhere, trying to move as far as possible from the tables that occupied half of the space inside the hall. Most are running towards the exit while others who are injured sat down on the floor, crying for someone to help them.

Vaughn's instinct kicked in; he draws out his sword and immediately moved in front of the two royalties, shielding them from a masked man emerging out from nowhere – the sword in his hand pointing right at the blonde-haired prince. Their swords clashed each other with a loud clang and Vaughn used his strength to push forward the attacker, causing said attacker to fall back first on the floor.

"Your Highness!" he called out the prince. "They are here! 'His' followers are here!" he added as his eyes caught several more of the mask man approaching them.

Will nodded and unsheathed the sword dangling on his waist. "They appeared earlier than we expected," he said as he pulled the brunette princess's hand. He turned to her. "Do not worry, Chelsea. I will protect you. I will protect you even if it costs me my life."

* * *

**A/N: **More mystery added; Vaughn's past. XD I made a mistake on Will's debut though. It'll be in the next chapter. X"D


	9. Nine

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing. This is a fanfic written for entertainment only.

**A/N:** This'll be my first time writing fighting scenes since I never did continue the one I started in 'Desert Rose'. X"D

_Italic words _– Thoughts

* * *

**DAHLIA**

- 9 -

* * *

The sound of metal banging against metal, shouts of orders from the knights on guards and screams from both running and injured guests filled the air. More of the uninvited guests-the unidentified masked men-appeared out of nowhere – all were using the sword in hand cutting whatever things and people that blocked their path. Screams of pain were heard as some guests fall victim to their attacker's sword.

Vaughn tightened his grip on his sword as his opponent rose from the floor and cursed his failure to kill the crown prince of Sunshine. He looked straight at Vaughn and through the holes of the mask that showed his eyes, Vaughn can clearly see the hatred burning fiercely inside his black orbs.

"You son of a bitch!" he raved, charging forward towards the silver-haired knight. "Get out of my way!"

"You wish," Vaughn growled as his sword once again clashed with his opponent's. "I will not let you harm the prince!"

"He needs to die!"

His opponent charged forward, swinging his sword for the third time at the silver-haired knight. His attack was once again ended up as a failure as Vaughn ducked to the left, dodging the sharp weapon aimed at him. Although he missed the knight's head, the tip of his sword managed to tore off the black and purple mask the knight was wearing. Vaughn quickly thrust his sword into his opponent's chest, earning anguish scream from him as Vaughn pulled out his sword and blood gushed out from his wound. The sword in his opponent's hand fell from his hand and he is dead before his body even hit the floor.

The silver haired knight spared the dead body a quick look before he turned to the blonde-haired prince. Said prince was confronting another masked man with the brunette princess watching in terror behind his back. The silver-haired knight, although knew that the prince's skill in swordsmanship can very much levelled his own was worried for his safety as the attackers were fully trained in fighting; he learned this fact from the battle he had with one of them just a couple of minutes ago. Vaughn gritted his teeth and without wasting any more time sprinted towards the prince, eager to take on the masked man and be his Lord's shield.

"Vaughn! Behind you!" the silver-haired knight heard Chelsea's cry and spun around in a second, dodging the attack of the masked man who tried to hack at his back.

"Be gone!" Vaughn exclaimed, shoving his sword through his attacker's gut, watching as said attacker's face twisted in agony, falling into the floor with the knight's sword still plunged into his stomach. Vaughn panted as he watched his opponent coughed blood, silently thanking the brunette princess for her warning earlier.

"You…," the masked man spoke between coughs as he narrowed his eyes at the silver-haired knight. "How…dare…"

_Pathetic._ Vaughn glared down at the man. "Who planned this attack?" he asked him.

"…..."

Vaughn, who was known to be a person with short temper and less patience grunted and stomped his right foot onto the lying man's body, making him spurt out more blood compare to the ones he coughed previously. "I am asking you a question! Answer me!"

The masked man smirked. "…Ha…Haha…Like hell," he said as he dug into the pocket of his vest and produced a pocket knife. "I…will tell…you…that," he finished his sentence and used his fading strength to slit his own throat.

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Chelsea covered her mouth with a hand as she watched the body beneath the silver-haired knight's foot limped and blood began to pool around the lifeless body. She gulped on her saliva; her eyes never once blinked at the process of the masked man slitting his own throat. Having living her life in a peaceful kingdom free from any dispute and under the protection of her loyal butler and all the knights of her kingdom, she had never witnessed such action – she had never seen one committing suicide and that amount of blood coming from a single man. She can feel her hand that covered her mouth trembled with both fear and awe; she was afraid the sudden attack and of the sight she'd just saw and was amazed at how well the silver-haired knight fought and deals with his enemy. She knows that this is not the time to be taken in by the prowess of someone else, to be stunned by the skill of a person deals with a situation but she can't help to be mesmerized by the silver-haired knight – he had once again changed her opinions on him. Vaughn intrigued her a lot – she wanted to know more and more about said knight. _Just…who exactly are you, Vaughn?_

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud clang from the direction where her date for tonight's ball was fighting. She gasped as she saw the blonde-haired prince was cornered by three masked men. _Idiot Chelsea! Now is not the time to have such thoughts! I have to help Will!_ Bewildered, the brunette princess scanned her surrounding, hoping that she can find a weapon of some sort. Her eyes landed on a full set of decorated body armour standing still not far from her – the gold-colored item in its hand immediately caught her attention. Nodding to herself, Chelsea wasted no more of her time thinking and made haste to the shining armour.

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"Die, Prince William!" the masked man shouted as he swings his sword towards the blonde-haired prince.

Will spun his body and raised his sword above his head, blocking the attack that was aimed at his head. The metal of their swords clashed together and Will grunted at the strength of his opponent. _He's no mere masked man; he's a very skilled swordsman. It's the same with those two I knocked off earlier._ The prince's opponent smirked at him when their gazes meet each other – he was mocking the prince's resistance.

"What is the matter, Your Highness?" he started as he withdraws his sword and took a step backwards – he still has the same smirk plastered on his face. "Are you tired from fighting three people at once? Why not take a break?" he added as he pointed the tip of his sword at the blonde-haired prince. "A long one which does not require you to wake up again."

Will grinned back at him between pants; he's obviously not bothered by the insult he's been given. "I thank you for the offer but I am afraid I will have to pass. I do not plan on resting now – not when you people are trying to wreck havoc in Sunshine."

"Hmph. Such big words from someone who clearly have no advantages in this fight."

"I assure you; it will be an easy fight if this was a one-versus-one match. However," the blonde-haired prince stood straight, pointing his sword the same fashion as his opponent towards him. "I have no intention of backing down regardless the foul play I am thrown into."

"Tsk. I have had enough hearing you talk like you own the world, you conceited little prince," the masked man said, switching into a fighting pose. "Your life ends tonight, Prince William of Sunshine Kingdom!"

Will grasped tightly his sword as he watched his opponent lunged towards him and with a loud cry swings his sword at him. Will deflected his attack with his sword and slashed upward, taking his opponent by surprise. He barely dodged the tip of the blonde-haired prince's sword as said sword managed to graze the skin of the masked man's left cheek and at the same time cutting the white thread of the mask he's wearing, making the green-colored mask fall down onto the floor, revealing the face that was hidden beneath it.

Will's eyes widen in shock as he saw the face of his attacker. _It can't be…_ "You are…"

"Die!" his opponent exclaimed, cutting of the prince's words and shot forward, directing the tip of his sword on the prince's chest, trying to cut through it.

Will was taken aback by the increased speed of his opponent and quickly raised his sword in front of his chest, hoping to deflect the incoming attack like he used to previously. His opponent, however, smirked at the prince's response and as quick as his dash earlier towards the prince, drew out a small silver knife from somewhere under the cape he's wearing. He threw it at the prince, aiming for the prince's hand that was gripping his sword. His smirk widened as he watched the prince writhed in pain, his eyes wandered to the small silver knife sticking on the back of his palm.

"You should have listened to my advice earlier, Your Highness!" the man laughed triumphantly and raised his sword, ready to execute his final blow.

_Damn it!_ Will cursed his clumsiness for easily being distracted by the pain on his hand. _Is this how I'm going to die?_ His eyes were set on the sword of his attacker which seemed to move in slow motion towards him. _Is this how my life's going to end?_

"I am not going to let you do that!"

A cry from behind his opponent snapped Will back to reality. The movement of his opponent halted as a sound of something, flesh being sliced was heard. Will watched the expression of his opponent changed; he was laughing no more instead he had his eyebrows narrowed and his lips moved, muttering words that Will can't decipher. His opponent started to turn his head backwards and Will, relieved and having regained his strength back swings his sword, beheading the man in front of him. Panting hard, he drew his sword down as the headless body collapsed onto the ground with a loud thud; he was still grasping his sword as he fall down onto the marble floor. Will was surprised to see a large, fresh cut that was still bleeding across the back of his dead opponent and switched his focus from the ground to whoever it is that saved him.

"C-Chelsea?" he spoke the brunette princess's name as he saw her standing in front of him with a sword covered with blood in hand. "Why did you–?" he was loss at words upon seeing his fiancée whom he was sure was hiding-as per his request earlier before engaging himself in a fight with the three masked men-in safety somewhere inside the hall.

"I…I…," the Sunny Kingdom's princess was as much surprised as Will, although hers was a different kind of shock compare to his.

Will moved closer to the brunette princess and eyeing the bloody sword in her hand while removing the silver knife from his hand, dropping it onto the ground. He can clearly see that her hands were shaking. _She attacked the man even though she was this scared._ Will let out a small smile and brought a hand to pat her on her shoulder. "You saved my life, Chelsea. Do not fret too much about the things that have passed."

Chelsea looked up at the blonde-haired prince. "I…I killed him," she stammered. "I killed someone…I did not mean to…I just…"

Will shook his head at her words. "You just injured him, Chelsea. I am the one who killed him," he told her, trying to console her out of her guilt for killing someone – he was sure that Chelsea, unlike him, had never took anyone's life before. "It is not your fault he is dead. Besides which, he is a part of the group of people who launch the attack tonight," he continued as he gestured his surrounding, pointing with his sword the countless bodies lying on the floor of the messy hall. "Take a look at the lives they took – their victims are innocent people of the kingdom. They did nothing to harm them yet they without mercy assaulted them, leaving them be without any soul attached to their body on the floor."

Chelsea eyes followed the tip of Will's sword and she bit her lips at the view the blonde-haired prince was showing her. She saw bodies of people that greeted her when she first entered the hall with the blonde-haired prince previously. She stared at the terrified expression fixed on their face, at the horror they've last seen and experienced before their soul was claimed by the swords of the uninvited group of masked men. She tore her gaze away from the bodies, closing her eyes for some seconds as she muttered a quick prayer for the dead before opening them and looked straight at the Sunshine Kingdom's crown prince. "I am sorry," she apologized to him. "It was just…I never thought that the knowledge Mark passed down to me will be used to…," her words trailed off as she bowed her head down onto the ground, suddenly find the floor beneath her interesting.

_So her butler is her mentor in swordsmanship._ Will used a finger to lift up her chin and smiled at her. "I know. I know that it is hard to stomach the fact that you…No matter," he said, releasing her chin and wiped a drop of tear away from her cheek. "I wanted very much to comfort you right now, Chelsea. However, pardon me for being rude, I am afraid that this is not a suitable time for me to do so," Will continued as his eyebrows narrowed at the approaching masked men behind the brunette princess. "As I said earlier, I will protect you," he added and moved behind the princess, shielding her from the four masked men who were nearing them. "Quickly find a safe place and hide yourself. Do not come near me."

The brunette princess turned to see the approaching masked men whose sword were already unsheathed in their hand, ready to strike down the prince. She took a quick look at Will and tightened her grip on the sword in her hand after seeing his expression. She switched her focus back at the masked men and gritted her teeth. _I can't let Will face them alone. With his condition now, it's impossible for him to win._ Chelsea closed her eyes, took a deep breath and breathed out after a few seconds. She opened her eyes back and saw that the four masked men are now standing right in front of her and Will, a smirk plastered on each of their faces.

"No," she finally replied the blonde-haired prince's request. _I'm scared. I really am._ "I refuse." _But I don't want to see Will getting hurt so this is not the time to be selfish and frightened. I know that what Mark taught me were merely the basic in swordsmanship but I'm sure I can still use it to fight. I have little confidence in winning but I will not stand by and watch them hurt him. _"I am not going to leave you here alone." _If I were to fall here tonight because of my stubbornness…_ "I will fight alongside you, Will." _So be it._

* * *

**A/N: **That was hard…but it's fun nevertheless. X"D


	10. Ten

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing. This is a fanfic written for entertainment only.

**A/N:** Agh. I seriously should do something with my habit of easily getting distracted playing games. OTL But Bakumatsu Renka Shinsengumi's heroine kick butt – I like heroine that posses such traits(I don't really prefer heroine that just sit around, moping and whining while waiting her prince to come save her) so it's hard to put down the game. X"D A-anyway, enough with my rambling. Onwards with the story. English is not my first language. Pardon the bad grammar and stuff. (n.n);

_Italic words _– Thoughts

* * *

**DAHLIA**

- 10 -

* * *

Vaughn pulled out his sword from the corpse lying on the pool of blood in front of him. He waved it twice to remove the blood but it's a useless effort for only small trickles of it flew away from the sword's shining tip. _Such a waste of my time. _He scanned the view of other knights fighting-there's no longer any masked man coming towards him-and people running in front of him for some seconds before turning his head to where he aimed to be before he was assaulted by the already-dead-man under him. He narrowed his eyebrows at the sight of the brunette princess standing behind the blonde-haired prince, at the item she was holding in her hands.

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Will's eyes widen in surprise when he heard the brunette princess's reply. "Chelsea," he called as he took a peek behind his shoulder, looking at her. "It is not safe for you to be here," he continued as he followed her figure moving and standing exactly next to him. _I will never forgive myself if anything happened to you._ "There –"

"Will," come the firm voice of the Sunny Kingdom's princess. "I have made up my mind. It is useless to badger me with your words. I will not going to let you face these man alone."

One of the masked men who were wearing a yellow mask decorated with feathers in front of the royalties whistled. "What a brave young lady," he said before burst out laughing. "You do realize that you have no chance of winning against the four of us, do you, Lady?"

_I do. But there's no way I'm going to surrender without a fight._ Chelsea flashed out a smile to the man who was mocking her. "And good Sir, you do realize that that might change – no one can predict the outcome of this battle before it started, yes? And no one can tell what actually will happen if I were to swing this sword in my hand," she added, gripping tightly on the handler of her sword. "My side being outnumbered does not mean that your side's victory is secured."

Said masked man laughed even louder. "You are a strong-willed woman. I like your type. It is a shame that we meet like this though," he said between laugh. "Hey. How about you drop that dangerous little thing in your hand and come home with me? It will be a waste killing a fine woman such as you."

"You big oaf," another masked man-this one's wearing an orange mask-spoke. "Have you forgotten our mission?"

"Of course not," the man wearing yellow mask answered, still laughing. "I just think that it is hard to come across a woman this spirited. You know I like feisty woman. There is something about them that I found…irresistible," he continued and licked his lips as he stared at the brunette princess-who was shooting him a disgusted look-standing in front of him.

"Hah!" a man wearing brown mask beside the orange masked man butted in the conversation. "You like every type of woman as long as you can get them on your bed. You–"

"Basta! (1)" Will boomed, tearing off his gold-colored mask he's wearing and threw the mask in hand away. "I will not tolerate filthy people such as you who view woman as mere toys that you play and dispose whenever you feel like it! And I absolutely will not tolerate your disrespect towards my fiancée!" he snapped at the three masked men.

The three masked man in question paused their bickering with each other and looked straight at the blonde-haired prince's face as their ears caught said prince's words. They stared at him for some seconds before turning their attention to the brunette princess standing beside him.

"Your fiancée, Your Highness?" the man wearing orange mask asked, his tone indicated that he was surprised to the prince's revelation of the lady in red masked in front of him. "Does that mean that this woman here is the princess of Sunny Kingdom, Princess Chelsea Eve Springfield?"

Chelsea decided that there's no use of hiding her face now that her identity was found out and tore of her mask. "That I am," she answered the masked man's question as she dropped her mask onto the ground and tightened her grip on her sword again. "I would very much loved to say 'It is a pleasure to meet you' but one will be a fool to say so to someone who is going to kill her the next moment she speak or move, yes?"

The three masked man had their eyes on the brunette princess before the one wearing yellow mask burst out laughing. "Oh, praise the Harvest Goddess! This is our lucky night to stumble upon the princess herself! To think that we will be able to complete our two missions in one go!"

"Indeed," the one wearing brown mask joined in the laugh. "The information we have gotten never include this piece of data, that the princess will be attending the ball. We truly are lucky, brothers," he continued as he patted the shoulder of the man wearing orange mask.

_So the details about Chelsea being here missed 'him'. But what kind of mission related to Chelsea that they're talking about?_ The crease on Will's forehead deepened as he continued watching the three laughing masked man in front of him. He loathed their kind and feels nothing but disgust towards their attitude to other people. He kept his eyes on them for some seconds before noticing something odd about the group of masked man. He noticed that the fourth person in the group, one who was wearing a blue mask kept still on his position – his arms were crossed over his chest and he did not show any expression or laughing along with his three partners. He noticed that the blue-masked man was now standing paces away from the other three and that even his face was hidden by the blue mask he's wearing Will can tell that said man is clearly not interested in his partners' conversation about woman and all. _That's weird. I sense no killing intention coming from him and he looked like he's irritated by the behaviour of his fellow partners. Come to think of it, I never heard him speak since the beginning._

"Well then," a voice from one of the masked man was heard as the sound of laughter toned down caught Will's attention and he switched his focus back to the group of three men. "We have spent quite some time dilly-dallying. I say that we start and get this mission of ours done before the reinforcement come, brothers," the owner of the voice, the man in yellow mask said as he fixed his grip on his sword.

The other two masked man nodded and imitated the yellow-masked man's action of tightening their grip on their sword. "Agree," they chorused and grinned at the royalties in front of them.

"Hmm? Are you going to spend your time standing there or participate in this fight?" the yellow-masked man asked as he noticed the blue-masked man's arms still crossed over his chest and that he no longer have his sword in his hand.

The blue-masked man shrugged and replies nothing in return.

"Bah," the brown-masked man interjected, shaking his head at the other man's silent reply. "There is no need for your participation anyway. Us three can handle this," he snickered at the silent blue-masked man.

"Well," the yellow-masked man glanced at the brunette princess. "I will have my dance with this lovely princess over here," he grinned at her.

Chelsea bit her lower lip. _Calm down, Chelsea. You can do this._ "The pleasure is all mine, Sir. I hope you will not disgrace yourself stepping on my foot while we are dancing," she grinned back, hoping that her bluff will cover up the nervousness she was feeling.

The yellow-masked man cracked up hearing her words. "Damn woman turning me on," he said between laughs. "Lady, you seriously should come along with me. Ditch that prince of yours. After all, he is going to die in a moment," he smirked at the blonde-haired prince.

"We shall see who will fall in this fight," Will scowled at the yellow-masked man and switched to a fighting stance.

"Of course," the orange-masked man replied before lunging forward and with a loud scream of 'Die!' swing his sword at the blonde-haired prince.

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"Take that!"

"Argh!" the masked man fall backwards and hit a table, falling onto the floor along with it.

Danny grinned as his opponent stand up, staggered for some seconds and fell to his knees, dropped the weapon in hand and with a hand on the bleeding wound on his stomach glared angrily through his thorn mask at the tanned knight standing in front of him. Danny kept his grin on his face as he approached the masked man.

"Well, well, well. Look who is kneeling like a sore loser he is," Danny smirked as he pointed the tip of his sword in front of the masked man's neck. "Did you not say that I am going to end up like my fellow dead knight over there before we started?" he nodded once towards dead body not far from him – said body once was a Knight of Sunshine just like Danny. "But I see that I am free from any scratch while you, like a pathetic being you are, clutching on your wound, gritting your teeth like a child losing his candy to a bully. You are just a dog whose bark is louder than its bite. How does it feel when your pride is trampled over, thanks to your own arrogance traitor?"

"Shut up!" the kneeling masked man shouted. "I have hated you ever since I saw you, Danny," he continued, trying to reach out his sword using his free hand. "I swear to Harvest Goddess that if I–"

The rest of his words never left his mouth as Danny slashed across his neck. Blood spurt out from the wound and the masked man fall down onto the floor with his eyes still wide open. "The feeling is mutual, Llyod (2). I hate you as well. You have signed your own death warrant the day you decided to turn your back against Prince William," the tanned man muttered, staring coldly at the dead body underneath him.

Danny kept his eyes on the body, staring silently and coldly at the dead man. The tanned knight is known to be a cheerful, happy-go-lucky man whose smile seemed to be 24/7 plastered on his face and although he's usually partnered up with Vaughn during missions and that the silver-haired knight is his best friend, he's not as cold as him – it's hard to see him with an expression like the one he's wearing now. He, however, will turn serious and possibly be even colder than Vaughn when it comes to matters related to traitors. Traitors reminded him of the happy times he had gone through before he lost them, courtesy to the doing of a traitor. His hands balled into fists on both side as he recalled the greenery of his village, the view of the orange-with-purple hue sunset one can see on the beach, the smell of the fresh fish caught by his father and the laughter shared between him and his parents and with everyone else in the village. He closed his eyes, brushing away the memories of his past life-one that he will never forget no matter how old said memories will be-and opened his eyes back after regaining his composure. He nodded once, reminding himself the purpose of his life after he was spared from being victim of said traitor – he needs to protect his current life and people who are precious to him; his wife, his friends, the Prince, the King and Queen and the kingdom. _I will do everything I can to make sure that Happiness will not leave me. Not this time._ With that in mind, Danny turned around to the shouting behind his back. He grinned at the view of the pink-haired violinist who was shouting angrily and swinging her sword at a black-masked man – it was obvious by the reaction of said masked man that he's afraid of the woman on rampage in front of him. The tanned knight made his way to the violinist and laughed as he heard, on his way to her, her loud yell regarding to her beloved violin that was smashed into pieces when the attack started as well as the price they-the masked men-have to pay for destroying her precious treasure.

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Chelsea ducked as low as she could to avoid the sword of the yellow-masked man. She slide to her left, to the yellow-masked man's right and swings her sword towards him. Said masked man deflected her attack easily and grinned mockingly at her. Chelsea grunted and took a step backwards, positioning herself in yet another fighting stance Mark showed her during their training sessions back in Sunny Kingdom. The yellow-masked man charged forward and Chelsea brace herself for the upcoming attack – she managed to prevent the sword hitting her as she shielded herself with her own and quickly spiralled around, wanting to hack the back of her opponent.

"Not bad, Lady, but you need to be faster than that!" her opponent barked as he turned around as well and took the shocked brunette princess down onto the marble floor by hitting her incoming attack with all his might.

Chelsea groaned in pain as she hit the floor with a loud thud – the sword in hand fall somewhere onto the ground with her. She clicked her tongue and telling herself that the fight is not over yet, sat up and searched frantically for her sword.

"Looking for this?" she paused from her search when she heard her opponent's voice and lifted her face to the owner of said voice. "First rule of the game, Your Highness; never let go of your weapon," smirked down at her as he waved playfully her sword in his hand.

The brunette princess gulped and she clutched tightly on her skirt as she watched her opponent taunting her with her sword. She took a peek at Will who was shouting out to her but unable to go to her for he was surrounded by the brown and orange-masked men. She turned back to her opponent when she feels some of her hair being lifted.

"Pretty hair," the yellow-masked man said as he used his sword-the brunette princess's was thrown away behind his back-lifting up some strands of Chelsea's hair. "Such a pity to waste it on a corpse, do you not think so? Although I am a male, I can name various kinds of hairstyles that will no doubt match you, Your Highness. Will you not consider my offer earlier? I still think that it is a waste killing a fine woman such as yourself."

Chelsea shot him a fierce look. She finally understands why Will snapped earlier; these masked men are nothing but greedy pigs whose lusts will never be satiated by one woman, who think women are only toys to play with and free to dispose however they want after getting tired playing. "I rather die than being touched by your dirty fingers, asshole," she spat angrily, burning holes in his eyes with her glare.

The yellow-masked man shook his head at her reply. "Tch, tch, tch. This is why I hated royalties such as you and Prince William – you people think that the world revolved around you, that you own it and that you are free to say whatever you wanted without considering others' feelings."

"Do not compare your disgusting self to Will – he is nothing like you and he will never be like you. It is you and your friends who are twisted; I see nothing wrong in the way the Sunshine royalties govern over Sunshine Kingdom. You and your friends who are consumed by Greed will never see the wonderful things bestowed upon you and the sin you carry will make you forever blind to such facts. Your wrath towards the royalties unleashed through the attack on these innocent people in this ball tonight is a pathetic excuse of rebelling – the attack is merely for your own entertainment, to slay those people who worship the royalties and who were able to see the joy the royalties brought down to them, to destroy their happiness that you carved for but failed to get."

"Silence!" the yellow-masked man raved. "Keep your mouth shut and your comments to yourself!" he continued as he glowered down at Chelsea. "Say more of them and I will cut open your throat!"

The brunette princess smirked at her opponent who started breathing heavily from his shout earlier. "Did I hit the right spot, Sir? Was it fun to feed Greed who was growing rapidly inside of you the blood, dreams and lives of innocent people that you killed? Was it fun to pick on people who are weaker than you, to see them cowered in fear as they see you cackle like a mad man you are thrusting your sword into someone's chest in front of them? Do you not think that whoever you are serving might order someone to do the same to you as soon as you are rendered useless by said superior of yours?"

"I told you to keep quiet, you bitch!" the yellow-masked man exclaimed as he swing his sword, cutting some strands of Chelsea's hair. "I see that you wanted to badly to die, Your Highness," he said as he pointed the tip of his sword right between the eyes of the brunette princess. "Be grateful that I am willing to grant you your wish. I am supposed to take you back to 'him' alive and well but," he flashed out an evil smirk as he paused for a dramatic effect. "I can always find an excuse for your death. Say, how about you died trying to protect your beloved Prince over there?" he added and gestured a nod at the blonde-haired prince who fall on his knees onto the ground. "It looks like he needs more training – distraction costs you your life in this kind of game, Your Highness. Keep that in your mind."

Chelsea gasped as she saw Will clutched hard on the wound on his chest. Blood started running out through the gaps of his fingers and his white outfit started to turned red, smeared by the red liquid gushing out from his wound. The pain shown on his face clearly tell the brunette princess that the wound inflicted on him is a severe one – he will die if nothing is done to stop the blood and treat said wound. _Oh, Harvest Goddess. Please! Please don't let him die! Please! Please! Please!_

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Will bit his lip as he feels the pounding pain on his chest. He started panting hard and he cursed silently his clumsiness that leads to his state now. _How did I miss the sword of the orange-masked man? But Chelsea…_ He lifted his face from the marble floor and looked straight at the brunette princess. She stared back at him with a horrified and worried look and although she was sitting quite a few paces from him, he can see the tears pooling inside her aquamarine eyes. _Thank the Harvest Goddess you are okay._ He tried smiling at her to assure her that he is fine but as soon as he did so, the pain on his chest stung even more and he started coughing blood.

"Oh dear," the orange-masked man faked a gasp as he saw the blonde-haired prince struggled to breathe properly. "My apology, Your Highness. Did I hit you on a vital part?" he proceeded to laugh at Will. "And here I thought you are a skilled swordsman, Prince William. It seemed that rumours about your swordplay being one of the best in Sunshine are nothing but lies."

"No, no," the brown-masked man waved a finger at the orange-masked man. "The stories about His Highness's skills are indeed true, brother. I think you managed to hit him because something distracted him – that feisty Princess over there, perhaps?" he used the same finger pointing at Chelsea who're now covering her mouth with a hand as she stared in disbelief the current condition of the blonde-haired prince. "You love her so much that her life weighs more than your own, Your Highness?"

The orange-masked man burst out laughing at his partner's mockery towards the blonde-haired prince. "Ah, the joy of being young," he said, wiping away the tears from his laughs. "It is great to be in love, yes?"

"Pfft. Do not make me laugh," the brown-masked man huffed, clearly not interested in the topic his partner brought up. "Love is stupid and only fools will believe in it. I am not a fool, therefore there is no need for me to suck in anything related to love and believe in them."

The brown-masked man's partner grinned at his answer. "I sensed jealousy," he said to him.

"Ridiculous," the brown-masked man waved a hand at the yellow-masked man who grinned at his gesture. "Let us just get this over with. I am starting to get sleepy."

The orange-masked man nodded. "Right," he agreed and looked down at the blonde-haired prince. "Have no fear, Your Highness," he told the coughing prince. "You will be relieved from your pain soon. But first, allow us to present you one last gift – consider it as thanks for entertaining us tonight."

Will looked up at the orange-masked man with a confused expression plastered on his already-twisted-with-pain face. "What are you–"

The orange-masked man smirked at the expression he received from Sunshine Kingdom's prince. "You will be given the privilege to watch your dear Princess die."

* * *

(1) Enough!

(2) Lanna's self-proclaimed superfan in IoH. Lol. XD

**A/N: **Another long yet fun to write chapter. X"D By the way, if you see names not belong to the main characters in the games, they belong to the games' subsidiary characters unless stated as original characters. XD


	11. Eleven

**DISCLAIMER: **I own nothing. This is a fanfic written for entertainment only.

_Italic words _– Thoughts

* * *

**DAHLIA**

- 11 -

* * *

"Lay not your dirty fingers on Chelsea!" Will exclaimed between ragged breaths as he continued to clutch the wound on his chest. "I will make you regret being alive if you ever touch her!"

The orange-masked man whistled. "I see you are rather feisty about topics that concern her, eh Your Highness?" he mocked the prince and laughed. "Seeing you get mad to this extent over a little threat makes me happy. I wonder how your reaction will be if she were dead?"

"I swear to Harvest Goddess I will kill you with my own hands if you were to do that," Will hissed angrily as he glared at the masked man in front of him.

"Oh, that is scary, Your Highness," the orange-masked man let out a gasp, pretending to be scared before burst out laughing after a few seconds. "Ah, Prince William. That expression plastered on your face is really priceless," he paused to lick his lips as he watched the blonde-haired prince's expression. "I really want to see you fall more into depression when the princess is no longer breathing."

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Chelsea was petrified on her spot as the yellow-masked man turned his face around to face hers back. She can still hear Will's shouts behind her enemy and feel the mocking stare the orange-masked man standing next to her fiancé gave her.

"The order is here. Get up," the yellow-masked man said and nodded once to the brunette princess; a gesture for her to rise from the ground she's been sitting on. "It is a shame, really, that our time will end now," he continued, smirking as the princess quietly does as she's told. "I honestly wanted to know you more, Lady, but my priorities lie on my task – as much as I wanted to talk and get to know you more, the task on hand is much more important than flirting with a woman. Oh, Harvest Goddess. Sometimes I cursed myself for prioritizing work over women. Do you not think that such trait does not suit my debonair self?"

Chelsea says nothing in reply and kept her stare at her attacker as he pointed the tip of his sword to her neck. Her fists balled on each side and she gulped on her saliva once when the thoughts of what said metal will do to her in a few seconds crossed her mind. _So this is the end for me._

"Please do not look so scared, Princess. I will make it less painful for you."

The brunette princess took a quick glance at her fiancé and smiled a sad smile. _I still haven't figure out if we truly have meet before, Will. If we do, I'm sorry because I'm unable to remember it._ She took a deep breath and with a smile formed on her lips, she closed her eyes. _I wish to know more about said matter but I guess it's impossible to do that now._ Her ears picked up the same sounds of the Sunshine Kingdom's Crown Prince's shouts of wanting her enemy in front of her to stop whatever he is going to do – they were mixed with the maniacal laughter of the orange-masked man who stood still beside his sitting form.

"I see you have submitted yourself to Fate. Have you really given up trying to live?"

Chelsea chuckled. "Of course not, good Sir," she replied with her eyes still shut tight. "Even without battle experiences as much as yours, I can clearly see that I am at a disadvantage here – there is no way I can win in this situation," she answered calmly. "Do you wish for me to beg for my life, to plead with tears running down my cheeks so that you will spare me my life? Will that satisfy you? Will you spare me my life if I did so?"

"…I can see now why Prince William is attracted to you, Princess of Sunny Kingdom. You are clearly different from other woman…at least compare to those that I have met."

Chelsea immediately opened her eyes when she heard the yellow-masked man's words – the sight of her attacker tightening his grip on the sword in hand greeted her. "What do you-" she was about to ask her attacker a question before a loud shout of warning boomed from where Will is.

"Look out, you idiot!"

The orange-masked was shouting warnings to his partner while frantically pointing a finger behind Chelsea. The yellow-masked man and the brunette princess were a second away from turning their heads towards the direction the other masked man was pointing when a black silhouette passed by Chelsea and in a blink of an eye all the Sunny Kingdom's princess can see was the colour red spewing out from her attacker's body – the orange-masked man's body was cut into half; the surprised expression of the yellow-masked man is clearly seen when the yellow mask he's wearing fall off his face onto the floor along with his upper body. The brunette princess's eyes widen in shocked and her legs gave out; she fall to the floor soon after the lower part of her attacker's body dropped to the ground, next to the other half of his body.

"Aa…aah…," horrified at the gruesome sight of flesh and intestine sprawled on top the pool of massive blood in front of her, she stuttered out incoherent words. She brought her trembling hands up and covered her mouth, trying to suppress the urge to puke. She'd seen a similar scene previously but compare to it, the one she'd just witnessed was completely at a different level – the one who cut down the yellow-masked man had no mercy whatsoever at him when he or she attacked him.

"Are you okay, Your Highness?" a voice called out, snapping Chelsea out from her reverie.

Afraid and still shaking, the brunette princess looked up to the owner of the voice and was surprised to see the familiar face.

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"Shit!" the orange-masked man cursed as he saw the event unfolded in front of him. "This is not supposed to happen! Who the heck is that guy? Where did he come from?"

Will breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the face of the rescuer of his fiancée. _Thank you for coming._ He looked up to the orange-masked man beside him. "You have failed," he said in between ragged breath as he felt the pain on his chest increased. "What do you intend to do now?"

The orange-masked man turned to the blonde-haired prince; his expression is the epitome of pure anger. "Shut the hell up!" he raved, a tinge of panic accompanied his voice. "Failing to kill the princess does not mean that I am going to let you live!" he continued as he pointed the tip of his sword exactly in front of the sitting prince's now-relaxed face. "She is our less prioritized target anyway! Do not think that you have won with the loss of one of my comrades! There are still many of us here – you are still in a disadvantage in this fight!"

"Oh? Are you sure about that?" the blonde-haired prince raised an eyebrow, mocking the other man with a smile. "Do you not realize that you are the only one left in your group? And even if you kill me there is no way for you to escape the hall – the reinforcement is here."

True enough, most of the hoards of masked-men in the hall who were previously slaughtering the guests and on-guard soldiers were no more – their bodies lay lifeless with eyes wide open and a shocked expression permanently stuck on their face on the ground The Sunshine Kingdom's knights on the other hand are fighting-and winning-the rest of the uninvited guests.

"Tsk!" the orange-masked man grunted as he took a quick look around him. Cold bullets of sweats started to form his forehead and he can feel them running down like rain on his neck. He gritted his teeth and his eyes frantically searching for any of his comrade who are still alive. The search proved to be a letdown as most of the ones his eyes caught are almost immediately struck down by the kingdom's knights.

Will smiled as he clutched harder the wound on his chest – his outfit's soaked in red and his palm is fully painted red by his own blood. "Give up. You have no chance winning them. Surrender…yourself," he said and as the last word of his sentences, he coughed blood and his vision starting to become blurry.

"I told you to shut up!" the orange-masked man snapped. "You are no different, Prince William. Acting all mighty when you are in such condition? Do not patronize me!"

The prince chuckled a little before continuing. "At least…I can rest assured…that she…is….," Will's last word was never heard as he collapsed on the ground with a hand still clutching his wound.

The orange-masked man smirked. "Hah! Such a big talk for one who is dying!" he laughed and kicked the blonde-haired prince's body once before scanning his surrounding again – the princess, her rescuer and the knights in the hall started to move towards his direction after the fall of the Sunshine Kingdom's prince. "Damn it! I have to get out of here!" he bit his lip and spun his heels around, ready to leave before someone blocked his way. "You!? What in Harvest Goddess name have you been doing–No. That is not important. Our mission here is done. It is time we make our escape," the orange-masked man said as he approached the person in front of him. "The prince is dead. 'He' will be pleased with this news. We have to go and report this to 'him'," he added as he patted the blue-masked man's shoulder.

"No."

The orange-masked man was taken aback when he heard the voice of the blue-masked man – he had thought all along that said man is mute for he never says anything from the first time he met him-before the attack on the hall-until now. "What are you saying? Do you want to get caught? We are finished if the knights caught us! They will never pardon us for killing the prince and all the guests here!"

"I know, but," the blue-masked man replied and before the orange-masked man realized what the blue-masked man meant by his words, he unsheathed his sword, immediately buried the tip of his sword on the chest of the other masked-man. "You are not going anywhere. Ever."

* * *

**A/N: **I'm sorry for the late update. OTL I didn't write anything for quite some time. It's time to get back to it – trying to get the hang of writing once again. XD


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